YuGiOh GX: Moving On Up
by AnotherIdentity
Summary: Co-written with Coin of Light and Darkness. Having fought off the perilous evils that faced them last year, the students are brought back for another year at Duel Academy to fight some more. Sequel to Dawn of a New Year.
1. The Latest Addition

Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Moving On Up

This is a Sequel to Dawn of a New Year

AnotherIdentity and I don't own anything except our OC's and any OC cards you don't recognize.

Chapter 1: The Latest Addition

"Wake up!" said Craig enthusiastically, entering his brother's room with a huge grin. His little brother, James, slowly stirred and stared at his older brother, "What… time is it," he grumbled.

Craig Thresher was someone who, until a year ago, had enjoyed a normal life. Craig, on this particular morning, was wearing a set of navy blue jeans with a dark red polo shirt, and combined with his natural scruffy hair, he looked set to go somewhere.

"Half nine, you might want to be up, me and Ryan are leaving at half ten," Craig replied.

"For what?" questioned James, clearly unaware of the situation.

"Duel Academy, stupid. They're doing the practical exams today, and if you don't remember, you just happen to be applying, remember?" said Craig.

In his realization, James jumped out of his bed and ran immediately into the bathroom to get ready. Craig grinned, it was only last year his younger brother had possibly saved his life in a junkyard from his possessed older brother, risking himself for Craig, who later went to assist in the defeat of Karādorein, restoring his older brother Ryan, back to normal.

Craig went downstairs, and saw the three suitcases by the door, one for him, one for his elder brother Ryan, and one for his younger brother James. Craig was about to enter his second year at Duel Academy, as a Slifer Red student, and his older brother, Ryan, would begin a job at Duel Academy assisting the head of Slifer Red, Taniya Dupree, in her work, and his younger brother James, was applying for one of the few places that were being offered to students one year younger than the freshman year, as Duel Academy had began trying out a four-year plan rather than the three-year, and James hoped to be one of the first to try it out.

"Right, everything's ready, just waiting for James, I presume?" asked Ryan.

"Of course," Craig replied jokingly. It was weird, only two months ago the two had been at each other's throats, and here they stood now, brothers once more.

"Well, when he wins, let's hope he's in Slifer Red, I'd like to have you both in my back pocket all year," joked Ryan in return.

For the next half an hour, the final preparations were made, and James ran down the stairs, checking he had everything as he went. Eventually, the three were at the door and ready to go. The three all looked extremely similar facially, with the exception of Ryan having brown hair, Craig having dark blonde hair, and James having black hair.

"Right, Ryan. When James is done, phone me and I'll drive all your stuff down to where the boat will be for the travel. You can pick it up there," said the boys' father, who had similar hair to Craig's, "Look after yourselves, and Craig, avoid the saving the world domination schemes this year," he joked.

"Can't guarantee anything," Craig replied, "I'll get James in on it if I can."

"Oh Lord…" he replied, as the three walked out the door and towards the town.

Just last year, Craig, with the assistance of his best friends, Hayley Dupree and Bastion Misawa, two Ra Yellow students who he had formed what could be said to be a 'good but contrasting friendship', with the two Ra's exceptionally dedicated to their studies and Craig being a lot more carefree. The three defeated Karādorein, a villain who had been very obsessed with Hayley and had wanted her to marry him, had tried to defeat Bastion multiple times and planned on using colour drain to rule the world. Craig never really understood the science behind it, despite Bastion's many attempts at explaining about the whole energy process, Craig just cared that they won, and hopefully, this year would be a lot more normal than the previous one.

Xxxxx

The three approached the Duel Tower, where the exams would be held, and it was evident James was feeling a clear sense of nervousness.

"Hey, don't be nervous, you'll slaughter your examiner, my worry was turning up on time," said Craig, referring to how he himself had turned up just before the closing time, much to the anger of one particular teacher, Crowler, who Craig still felt was the reason behind his Slifer placing, although he wasn't complaining.

"Yes, you did…" moaned someone behind them. Craig turned around, and saw Flo, his girlfriend of many years. He smiled, and Flo immediately turned to James, "You worried?" she asked.

"Kinda…" muttered James.

"Don't be, now get your butt in there and kick some Proctor butt," Flo replied. James looked slightly inspired by Flo's aggressive reply, and began walking in ahead of Ryan, Craig and Flo.

"She means good luck," yelled Craig after James, who gave the worldly thumbs up over his shoulder in return and kept on walking.

Continuing on, the three entered the building behind James, looking to catch up with people last year.

Xxxxx

Ryan, now being a staff member, had to go and sit with the other staff, possibly asked to do an examination, whilst Flo went off to find some people that she knew from her dormitory, Craig was left alone, but not for long. Leaning on the nearby barriers were the girlfriend and boyfriend duo of Hayley Dupree and Bastion Misawa, holding hands with each other whilst watching the duels down below. Hayley was like him, a second year but the only girl in Ra.

"Scouting the competition?" asked Craig jokingly to the two, approaching them.

"There's not much of it…" replied Bastion, "The kids this year are quite below standard. Great to see you again, how's the summer gone?"

"Same as it was every year, except this time I had two more people to spend it with," said Craig.

"It'll be awkward to see Ryan again this year," began Bastion, "After he almost destroyed all of us last year," Craig nodded at this. He himself saw the full force of Ryan's power last year, and he was glad that was eradicated.

"How's James doing?" questioned Hayley.

"He's fine, feeling nervous as anyone would, but he'll be fine, he'll do great," replied Craig.

Suddenly, there was an interruption from a more unwanted source, "Hey guys!"

Entering the scene was Jaden Yuki, a third-year Slifer Red student who last year had mysteriously become possessed by the Anarchists and fought, and lost, on the side of the Anarchists, despite his defeat of the Shadow Riders the previous year. The Golden Rule, good guys win and bad guys lose had been in place. Hayley immediately turned away and ignored him, she despised Jaden for everything he was worth, and his association with Larke last year made it stronger. Jaden seemed oblivious to the hatred that others felt towards him and didn't seem to understand that what he'd done last year was wrong.

"Hey," said Craig, trying to sound as enthusiastic as he could.

"Some of these new applicants, boy, I'd like to throw down with them," replied Jaden.

Bastion immediately groaned as well. Being the intellectual person that he was, he always did dislike the way Jaden spoke, and what with his actions last year, he now just hated him. Craig saw that this left him to converse with Jaden, unfortunately.

"Jaden, they'd probably beat you," joked Craig.

"Nah, I'd wipe the floor with them. In fact, I could do with a warm-up before we move on to the island!" replied Jaden enthusiastically, running along to find some younger students.

"He'll never survive when he leaves this school…" said Craig, turning back to stand next to Hayley and Bastion on the rails, watching the younger students.

"Craig… Is that?" asked Hayley, spotting someone walking onto one of the examination fields, as Craig turned to look.

"It sure is, James' time at Duel Academy begins here," said Craig, confident his brother would pass.

"Well, best of luck to him, look at his examiner," replied Hayley.

Xxxxx

Down on the Duel Field, James stared around nervously. Walking onto the area opposite him was, he presumed, his examiner. James looked around, and on the barriers on the area literally right next to his Duel Field, he saw his older brother, Craig, and he presumed the two standing next to him were Hayley Dupree and Bastion Misawa, who he had spoke about to him before. Craig smiled at James, who took that as a sign of saying 'Good Luck,". Despite having five other exams at the same time, James felt everyone was watching him, although he calmed down when he looked to the left, and saw his other brother, Ryan, examining a student. James knew that Ryan had a slight eye on the match, and Craig would definitely be watching.

"What's your name, kiddo?" asked the examiner. She was female, extremely muscular, has two scars running down her face and scared James slightly.

"James Thresher, ma'am," replied James, trying to be as polite as possible.

"A Thresher, hmm? I thought I had enough of you in my dormitory, let's hope you're better than the one I've already got," joked the examiner, looking to her right and seeing James' older brother, Craig, who had a large grin on his face.

Xxxxx

"She loves me really," joked Craig, "She's going to push James to his limits, let's hope he can do it."

"Love is one way of putting it, but attempts to prevent insanity is another way, a more accurate way," replied Bastion. Despite having spent most his summer with Hayley and Taniya, he felt just as good to see Craig again as he did when he met up with Hayley and Taniya in the summer, for some reason, Craig's carefree attitude seemed to rub off on Bastion whilst he was around, probably because when he was with Craig, he was never studying, he thought. Despite that, they were best friends and if he had to trust anyone to watch his and Hayley's backs, it would be Craig.

"No way. I've got to easily be the tidiest student in the dorm."

"Only because you just shove it all in through the hole you have in your wall, so your next-door neighbor gets it,"

Craig smiled; this was true. His fellow Slifers had ordered him many times not to place old newspapers, magazines and general rubbish through the small hole, which despite their complaints, was never fixed up. Having spent the whole year alone due to Jaden's disappearance, Craig was slightly upset that he had to live with others now, although at the same time hoped to finally make some people he could speak to towards the latter end of the day, as he was unable to leave the dormitory at night due to Taniya's restrictions, a rule of which Craig had still broken on many occasions, although he claimed they were 'necessary and world-saving', an excuse an intellectual Taniya never fell for.

Xxxxx

"I'm Taniya, Head of the Slifer dormitory. There are simple rules for this match; I'm using an examination deck, so you won't gain an advantage. If I win, you're off home, if you win, then you'll be enjoying your next year at Duel Academy. We each have four thousand Life Points. Short, simple and sweet. You ready, kiddo?" Taniya explained.

"Yes…" replied James, trying to take in all the information.

"Great, then let's duel!" said Taniya, activating her Duel Disk as James did the same.

James: 4000  
Taniya: 4000

James looked nervous yet confident as he drew his first five cards. He was appearing hesitant and didn't look as confident with the strong woman opposite him.

"If you're so hesitant, I'll go first, rookie! I bring out Dark Blade to my side of the field in Attack Mode. You're up," began Taniya, staring towards James, as the human-sized black warrior emerged onto the field and withdrew his two swords and followed Taniya in staring towards James. (DB 1800/1500)

James still appeared hesitant, and it was easy to see that he didn't have much in his hand he could use, although upon drawing his card, he seemed a lot more confident, "I'll match your Dark Blade, with my Genex Neutron, also in Attack Mode. Along with that, I activate the Continuous Spell Machine Assembly Line! This gives each Machine monster an extra 200 Attack Points, and when a Machine is destroyed, my card gets 2 Junk Counters, and this is the best part, I can destroy the card to bring out a monster whose Level is the same or less than the number of Junk Counters on the card. Nifty, huh?" said James, seeming a lot more confident now that he knew he had the offensive advantage. (GN 1800/1200 – 2000/1200)

Xxxxx

"A Genex Deck?" questioned Bastion, facing towards Craig, "I thought James had a Vylon Deck and he used it really well."

"Last year, Ryan destroyed James' Deck during the confrontation they had. To make up for it, Ryan went out and made James a brand new Deck entirely. Trust me, James uses this Deck loads better," replied Craig.

"Not to bring things down, but I don't think Taniya will allow James to have an advantage for long," replied Hayley, she knew her older sister would make James work for his win.

Xxxxx

"Good work, James. Now let's see if you can hold it," said Taniya.

"Watch me. Genex Neutron, attack his Dark Blade now!" attacked James, as his black-armored monster swiftly moved towards Dark Blade, taking it out with the weapon on the end of his arms, damaging Taniya in the process.

Taniya: 3800  
James: 4000

Despite being hit, Taniya barely moved through the attack, although James looked happy at getting first blood.

"I'll end my turn there," finished James.

Taniya drew her card, and looked at James, "Time for a re-match, I activate Warrior Returning Alive, returning Dark Blade to my hand, and straight away I'll Summon him back out again, and this time, to ensure his victory, I add Wicked-Breaking Flamberge – Baou to my Dark Blade, giving him 500 more Attack Points, as long as I discard a card," Taniya said, discarding Marauding Captain to do so, "Now, Dark Blade, avenge yourself!" (DB 1800/1500) (DB 1800/1500 – 2300/1500)

The same battle occurred again, but this time, the opposite result occurred, as Genex Neutron felt the offensive force of Dark Blade, shattered to smithereens by the warrior.

Taniya: 3800  
James: 3700

"Remember, my Machine Assembly Line gets two Junk Counters when a monster of mine is destroyed," reminded James, not looking too happy at the defeat of his monster. (Junk Counters – 2).

"That's fine by me, I'll play one card face-down to end my turn," said Taniya.

James looked at the cards in his hands, beginning to look worried; he had nothing in his hand anywhere near 2300 Attack Points. In desperation, he looked over at his older brother, Craig, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

Xxxxx

"He's losing it…" muttered Bastion.

"Exactly. What am I supposed to know about an Exam Deck? I barely know anything about James' Deck, but I'm sure he's got something that'll win him this. It's just a matter of using it correctly," replied Craig.

Xxxxx

James drew his card, realizing he wasn't getting any help and unfortunately for him, nothing was getting better.

"I play one monster face-down," said James down-heartedly.

Taniya smiled, and drew her card, and just a few seconds later, James was back to square one, having watched Genex Undine get destroyed. (Junk Counters – 4) (GU 1200/800)

"Try again, kiddo. I doubt this is your best," said Taniya.

James looked slightly aggravated, as he again drew his card, and by the look on his face, got nothing again, "I'll have to just play another face-down monster."

Taniya looked as if she was slightly bored and annoyed at the lack of competition from James. She'd seen such ferociousness when dueling from his brothers, and she began to wonder if he was just the odd one out amongst the three.

"If you want, you line them up and I'll knock them down. I add D.D Warrior Lady to my field in Attack Mode!" added Taniya, "D.D Warrior Lady, attack his face-down card!" (D.D WL 1500/1600)

Following orders, D.D Warrior Lady took apart James' face-down card, Genex Recycler; leaving James to face Taniya's other monster. (Junk Counters – 6) (GR 200/400)

"Dark Blade, attack his Life Points directly!" ordered Taniya, watching as James took a massive blow to his Life Points from the attack.

Taniya: 3800  
James: 1400

Xxxxx

Craig groaned, just as he heard a cackle behind him, turning around, he saw Larke, one of last year's Anarchists, and an enemy of Hayley's from her childhood. From last year, Craig began to develop his own little hatred for her himself and so did Bastion, for anyone who hurt Hayley was on Bastion's dead list.

"Your brother!" she laughed, "He's so pathetic!"

Craig turned around swiftly, angered by Larke, "I'd advise you stop that."

"Or what?" she replied, to which Craig immediately activated his Duel Disk.

"Or you can enjoy an embarrassment to yourself in front of the entire school," said Craig in return.

"Don't waste your time," said Hayley, still watching the duel, "She's not worth it."

"After all," Larke replied, "Once your brother loses this; you won't see him for another year, but, I suppose you're used to not seeing your family."

"Is there an issue down here?" asked a member of staff, coming down the stairs.

Larke, not seeing who it was, immediately responded with, "Yeah, this pathetic moron is wasting his time talking to me, it's not my problem if he's annoyed because he never sees his brothers."

The staff member offered a handshake to Larke, "We've met before Larke, with Karādorein, I'm Ryan Thresher, remember? Now the assistant Head of Slifer, or more importantly in this case, that 'pathetic moron's' brother, and I can see him right now."

Larke ignored the slight sarcasm in the comment, resuming her obnoxious pose of having her legs up on the chair in front of her, kicking it back and forth, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Well, as I'm a staff member, I can do this. You'll have a day's detention for insulting another student, a day's detention for insulting another potential student, plus a third day's detention for setting a bad example to potential younger students," replied Ryan.

"You can't do that!" protested Larke.

"Funny… I just did," Ryan replied.

"Pathetic…"

"Not helping yourself here. Another two days for abusing a staff member. That's your first week in detention with me. Where would we be without rules, eh?"

Ryan walked off, leaving Larke in a state of shock, whilst leaving Craig, Bastion and Hayley in a state of amusement. Ryan returned to the staffing area, having finished his duel before intervening in the argument, and Larke stormed off in anger of what she had just had happen to her.

Xxxxx

Taniya: 3800  
James: 1400

"C'mon James…" he thought to himself, drawing his card "We need to get something going here…"

"I'll play another monster face-down in Defense Mode," said James, looking downhearted.

"It's alright, you fought well. D.D Warrior Lady, attack his face-down card!" attacked Taniya.

James began laughing as she attacked, "You've given me another turn," he said, as his face-down card was Genex Ally Crusher, more than enough to withstand the warrior's attack and hit Taniya in return. (GAC 1000/2000)

Taniya: 3300  
James: 1400

Taniya smiled slightly, there did seem to be at least some strategy in him, "It's a shame it won't survive the offence of my Dark Blade!"

She was right, Genex Ally Crusher was nothing in comparison to Dark Blade, and it was taken apart and left James' field empty again. (Junk Counters – 8)

"I end my turn," finished Taniya.

James was looking desperately hopeful over his next card, drawing it and suddenly drawing a great smile on his face.

"This changes everything. I activate Lightning Vortex, discarding one card destroys all face-up monsters on your field," said James, watching as Taniya's field was obliterated by the skies, "Then since you've destroyed four Genex monsters, I have 8 Junk Counters, meaning I can destroy my Machine Assembly Line to bring out this…Genex Solar!" (GS 2500/1500)

Suddenly, the field changed. From Taniya's domination came Taniya's empty field, and James brought out a powerful monster, hovering in the air, glowing a fierce orange colour. Taniya looked distraught yet was pleased that the student had pulled the match around. 'Maybe he's like his brothers after all,' she thought.

"Genex Solar, attack her directly!" said James, still clearly gleeful because of his turnaround, and Taniya took the beam of energy, not showing much of a reaction.

Taniya: 800  
James: 1400

Xxxxx

The stadium was in shock. Just a turn ago, James was almost on his hands and knees, just barely holding out, and now he was in the driving seat for victory.

"Looks like James may well be joining us this year," said Craig.

"I wouldn't be certain," said Bastion, "Taniya will probably pull something out of the bag. She tends to, no offence, James is a great duelist, but Taniya's using a different Deck and she's looking as if she's always used it."

"How about a bet?" enquired Craig.

"What kind of bet?" interrupted Hayley, "Taniya's dominated this, James has, again, no offence, come out quite lucky, so I'm confident she'll win."

"Didn't know you were a better," replied Craig.

"Neither did I," added Bastion.

"Shows what you two know," joked Hayley, "But what's the issue with betting a sure victory? Tell you what, if Taniya wins, you have to fix our Duel Runners when we get to the island, and make any upgrades to them we want."

Craig smiled, it was all a joke, but the terms of such a bet would be the serious part of the conversation, "Deal, but if James wins you each have to do two weeks' of my homework, in total, a month."

Bastion considered it for a moment, with Hayley looking up at him, she was willing to accept; she was just waiting for Bastion's response first.

"You've got yourself a deal there," he replied, as the three turned back to watch the duel, more anxiously than before.

Xxxxx

Taniya: 800  
James: 1400

"Great move, James, perhaps you're a lot better than you've shown so far," said Taniya, drawing her card, "It's unfortunate it can't last, as I Summon out Gearfried the Iron Knight!" (GIK 1800/1600)

James was confused, why was Taniya pitting a weaker monster against his. Taniya saw the confused look on his face, and smiled, pressing a button on her Duel Disk, slowly revealing her face-down card.

Xxxxx

Seeing the face-down card, which it was evident James didn't understand Craig put his head in his hands, which made Bastion and Hayley smile, looking confident over the result of this match.

Xxxxx

"What is it?" questioned James.

"Release Restraint, it can only be used on Gearfried the Iron Knight, and slowly releases him from his iron armor and brings out a whole new being…" explained Taniya, as light shone around Gearfried as the armor began dropping to the floor, "Meet…Gearfried the Swordmaster!" (GS 2600/2200)

Taniya's new monster gave a sharp and threatening look, and James returned to his previous stance, a worried and nervous stance. Genex Solar was one of his strongest monsters, and with that destroyed, he was uncertain of how he could defeat Taniya's new being.

"Gearfried, withdraw your swords and finish his Genex Solar!" attacked Taniya, as what was once James' strongest monster was reduced to rubble, and then he was attacked as well, knocked to the floor by the power of the warrior.

Taniya: 800  
James: 1300

"I end my turn. You'll need to think of something, as next turn my Swordmaster's going to do the same thing all over again," said Taniya, as James drew his card.

James looked at his card, yes it was rather worthless, but if combined with the right two cards, it would win him this match… Unfortunately, he knew he only had one of those; however he knew his card he drew could still be used to effect now.

"I place one monster face-down, then activate Scroll of Bewitchment, letting me change the Attribute of a monster, and I think I'll convert your Gearfried from a Light monster, into a Dark monster," said James, "That'll be all."

Taniya was confused as to why he did what he had done, but nonetheless she moved onwards, "That was pointless, and I'll show you why it barely did anything by attacking your face-down card!" she said, as Gearfried the Swordmaster obliterated Genex Ally Bellflam.

James sighed, what were the chances of him drawing the right card at this point? One in thirty? Surely there was no chance, he was considering surrendering, nothing he had could possibly stand up to Taniya's Gearfried, and even if it could, it'd sill have to get through Taniya's Wall of Illusion, which would only return his card to his hand.

Xxxxx

"Come on James…" Craig muttered, "Don't give in…"

Although Hayley and Bastion both knew it was be extremely unfortunate not to have James come through to Duel Academy, there was that slight joy of having their Runners upgraded that they were looking forward to.

Xxxxx

James still drew his card, and looked at it.

"No way…" he said to himself, "I have to be, what, the luckiest guy alive?"

Taniya looked surprised; surely he hadn't drawn a match-winning card? James turned to face Taniya, with a smile on his face that indicated victory.

"Now, listen up. This'll get confusing, but the last turn always is," he began.

"What do you mean?" questioned Taniya, "Surely there's no way you can win?"

"Think again. First of all, I activate Mind Control, which lets me take control of your own Gearfried the Swordmaster for a turn, and then, I'll add Genex Ally Chemistrer to my field..." James continued. (GAC 200/500)

Taniya looked confused, before it suddenly hit her, "Wait, Genex Ally Chemistrer is a Tuner, you're not…" she started.

"Oh, I am. I Tune Genex Ally Chemistrer to your Gearfried the Swordmaster, and it's a good job I need a DARK-Attribute for this, since I changed Gearfried to one a few turns back, so I can bring out my Duel Academy Passport!" said James cheerily, as Genex Ally Chemistrer separated and covered Gearfried the Swordmaster, slowly transforming the warrior into something new.

"Well, I'll be…" Taniya said, "Never did I think this would be what you were planning…"

"Locomotion R-Genex, let's lock and load!" said James, as on the field on front of him suddenly appeared the stocky, large and threatening black machine, looking ready for action with its weaponry, "Plus, when it's Synchro Summoned, I get control of your strongest monster, and in this case, it's your only monster," (LR-G 2500/2000)

Taniya smiled as her field was reduced to nothing, despite the poor start, it was evident perhaps James was good enough, "Great job, kid. Now it's your turn to take it home," she complimented.

"Locomotion R-Genex… Finish this with Genex Motion Slam!" ordered James, as the giant machine took out one of its fists, and from its stationary position dealt a blow to Taniya which ended the match.

Taniya: 0  
James: 1300

The monsters disappeared, signaling the end of the duel, James looked his hands and his Duel Disk and even he himself could not believe his victory. Taniya walked over to him, and shook his hand, "Great match, it's a shame you probably won't be in my dorm, we could use someone to help restrict your brother," she joked, as James laughed and returned the handshake.

"Thanks," he replied, as interference came over the intercom.

"A quick notice; all successful applicants who will be in the trialed before-first-year next year have now been examined, and we have come to a conclusion that until the first exams of the year, all of these students will be placed into the Slifer Red dormitory," came Crowler's voice over the intercom.

"Well, what do you know, you are in my dormitory next year," said Taniya, "And certainly, I can't wait to meet you all," Taniya added, evidently pleased.

James was just about to open his mouth to reply, before he was tackled to the ground by Craig in celebration who quickly jumped back up, leaving James on the floor.

"What was that for?" asked James, slightly dizzy.

"Because, you idiot, you won. Not only do you get to be in my dormitory, but thanks to your victory, I don't have to do any homework for the first month," he replied, as Hayley, Bastion and Ryan slowly approached as well.

"Well, I think we both agree doing your homework for two weeks each is worth seeing what we just saw. Good job, James," said Hayley, as Bastion nodded in agreement.

Despite being on his cell phone on the three's father, arranging a pick-up of their cases, Ryan still looked towards James with a big thumbs-up and a smile on his face. After continuous talking, he eventually hung up.

"Dad says great job, he'd love to speak, but he has to drop our stuff off then go off on some crazy business trip again, so it'll be down there when we get there," Ryan said, "But yes, great job. I really didn't think you'd do that for a moment."

James looked quite uncomfortable around all the compliments he was receiving, but still said 'thanks' each time nonetheless. The six talked for a while longer about the match, Craig, Hayley and Bastion's bet and the general year ahead before heading out and heading towards the dock where they would set sail for Duel Academy.

"So, Craig," Taniya began, "If you have no homework to be doing, I guess you can be on washing up duty for the first week, and that includes tonight, when everyone's eating a load, so you'll have lots to do,"

Craig groaned, obviously displeased at this.

"Well, you've got a lot of time," she continued.

"There'll be no need for him to do it the first week," said Ryan, "I've already got our candidate I think."

Craig remembered about the earlier confrontation, and suddenly hugged his brother jokingly in gratitude.

"Get off me," Ryan said, laughing whilst trying to shove Craig off, "Larke, before you ask. A long story and a week's detention as a result. Craig can do it another time, but Larke can do the first week, including tonight's big meal."

"Y'know," James said, "I can probably get used to having a brother as a staff member."

"Oh, it's great," said Hayley, "Nothing quite beats getting people like Larke in as much trouble as you can."

Taniya smiled, "I'd happily have that girl doing my work all year,"

"Thought you were supposed to unbiased?" joked Bastion.

"Only when I'm on the island," replied Taniya, smiling.

The six continued on. Yes, it was almost certain not to be as dangerous of a year as last year, but it sure would be just as entertaining…

Xxxxx

"A warning to all Duel Academy students, you have fifteen minutes to board the boat before it takes off for the island. All luggage is required to be placed in the luggage compartment, where it will remain safe for the journey," came the announcement over the intercom.

Ryan ran back off the boat, having placed all three of the Threshers' luggage on board the boat and sorting out arrangements for travel, being a staff member. He came off smiling unnaturally, looking towards Craig with a slight smirk on his face.

"What?" questioned Craig curiously.

"Nothing…" replied Ryan, "I mean, you'll find out…"

"You boys ready then?" asked Flo, walking off the boat herself having placed luggage onboard.

"Yeah. Isn't Jacob with you today?" asked Craig, referring to Flo's older brother, who this year, like Bastion, would be in his final year.

"No… I've honestly no idea what's up with him. He's been literally silent for the last two weeks, and he left at eight in the morning for some unknown reason, it's worrying," she replied.

Craig shrugged his shoulders, obviously having no idea himself, "So, who's this new teacher I've seen wandering around in the Obelisk Blue jacket? Never seen him before," he asked, referring to a teacher nearby who was, like Craig specified, was wearing an Obelisk Blue jacket and was already quite stocky as well as having black hair which arose to a point in the middle of his scalp.

"Him? That's Viper, Crowler hired him as assistant of Obelisk Blue after he went into an outrage over Sheppard allowing Ryan to assist Slifer; none of us know where he comes from or anything," she replied.

At the end of Flo's sentence, Hayley and Bastion entered the scene, Hayley with a strong look of disbelief on her face.

"You won't believe what we've just seen," said Bastion, looking slightly in shock himself.

"That Viper guy?" said Craig, "Yeah, looks like some guy out of a comic book."

"No, there are more pressing issues at hand," replied Bastion seriously.

"Only been in the Academy an hour, is it always like this?" asked James to Craig.

"Pretty much," he replied.

"Etain's been hired as the Ra Yellow assistant," said Hayley.

"Etain?" questioned James up to his brothers, Craig who looked slightly in disbelief, but Ryan looked a lot more serious.

"Why, she'll rip some of those Ra Yellows apart…" said Ryan quietly.

"Exactly," said Hayley, "And she's persuaded that fool Sartyr that she's 'changed', and he's only gone out and believed it and hired her after Crowler persuaded him to hire an assistant."

"WHAT! After what she did last year? She help Karādorein, kidnapped Hayley, had a Shadow Duel with Taniya, chained Hayley to the wall about thirty feet above said Duel, almost killed Bastion with that spike, he's allowing her near students?" asked Craig in disbelief.

"Yeah and that's only what Karādorein allowed her to do. That's because Karādorein wouldn't let her do much more, although he wanted you all gone, he needed your Keys, and if Etain was let loose, she would happily have broken half your body before she took your keys," Ryan replied, "Ever taken a hit from Etain?"

"Nope," Craig replied.

"Don't get yourself into a position where you do. I don't know how strong Taniya is, but if she's anything like Etain, then you've pretty much got a brick wall defending your dormitory," Ryan explained further.

"Taniya is far stronger than Etain, she beat Etain in our Amazon Acceptance Fight, Etain doesn't stand a chance against Taniya in a physical fight and in a duel, well, Taniya wipes the floor with almost anybody," said Hayley.

"This is going to be one entertaining year…" muttered James.

"I presume you've all heard…" said Taniya, entering the scene.

"Etain?" asked Ryan, as Taniya nodded, "Yeah, good luck to those Ras."

"We're Ra's and that means…" said Bastion.

"That means that, we're in deep trouble," said Hayley, knowing what Etain was capable of.

"Awkward thing is, just interrupted her, that new teacher Viper and an Obelisk Blue student named Jacob Smith all speaking together. Something's going on, and Sheppard needs to be informed first thing we get to the island," said Taniya, walking off the boat after her introduction to the conversation.

There was a slight moment of silence, before Bastion interrupted, "Tell you what everyone, let's make a pact. All seven of us, myself, Hayley, Taniya, James, Craig, Flo and Ryan, we promise to each other that no matter what happens, whatever evil and darkness we have to fight, we fight it together," he proposed, placing his hand in the middle.

"Sure," added Hayley confidently, placing her hand on top of Bastion's.

"Fine. Together, nothing can stop us," said Taniya, adding her hand.

"Sign me up," said Ryan, placing his own hand in.

"I'm game," replied James, reaching up and placing his hand on top of Ryan's.

"Couldn't see it happening any other way," added Flo, placing her hand in and staring at Craig, waiting for his indication.

"You can count me in," added Craig, "We wouldn't have done it last year after all."

The agreement for the seven to stick together gave a sudden boost of confidence to them all that they were not alone, and as the announcement came over the intercom that they could board, they separated and slowly entered the boat in the queue.

Just as Ryan began to board, closely followed by James, Craig took a step to the side, suddenly obtaining a sense of blurred vision.

"What is this? This has never happened before…" he thought to himself, slowly changing his vision as visualizing something he was certain was nowhere near him…

Xxxxx

Craig had what he was certain was a bird's eye view over some sort of battle between two sides. Slowly, he was pushed downwards into the side which had red armor, looking very equipped for the battle. At the front of the side with the red armor he saw three men, looking very young, standing at the front.

"Tai is this really a battle we can win?" questioned the soldier on the left, just behind the soldier at the front, obviously the leader.

"Takato, if we don't hold these people off, they'll get close enough to Wisteria, Daichi and Sunny to cause some serious damage," replied Tai.

"If you say so," replied Takato.

"Tai's got a point, brother. We were given these positions in the army to lead and protect our leaders," added the person on the right.

"Thanks, Takuya," said Craig, slowly clambering up onto the nearby wall, which made him taller than the reminder of his soldiers, before bellowing out, "We stand here today fighting the biggest force we've ever seen. In an hour, we could all have perished, without having put up a fight of any kind. We face the threat of invasion, and it is our solemn duty to prevent such a threat. This force has destroyed the remainder of the forces in our land, and whilst we remain the biggest force, we are also the last significant force which can defend this land. For what could possibly be the last time, we stand together, we fight together, and in the name of our kingdom, soldiers, we shall fall together! All ready? Forward!"

Xxxxx

Craig suddenly found himself back in the real world, standing to the side of the entrance to the boat, many people ignoring him despite the out-of-the-ordinary situation.

"What's up?" asked Flo, having just been about to board herself.

"Nothing, just nothing," lied Craig, trying to forget what he had seen, slowly boarding, trying to remember what he had seen, was it the past? Had he just seen his supposed previous self fighting a battle? He was unsure, but they hadn't even got to the island yet, and it looked to be the beginning of one long year.

Xxxxx


	2. First Tag Duel and Past Visions

Chapter 2: First Tag Duel and Past Visions

It was well in the trip to Duel Academy and Bastion and Hayley were catching up with a few other friends, mainly Chazz, Atticus, Jasmine, Mindy, Alexis, Syrus and Hasselberry. Chazz, Hasselberry and Alexis had held Color Keys last year and they too were reincarnations of royalty, though they didn't seem to be bothered about this at all.

"So you stayed in an Amazon village for most of the holidays?" asked Alexis in disbelief.

"Yes, I spent two weeks with Dr Eisenstein, who took me on for a trial run with several other applicants to see who would be his assistant and then I went to be with Hayley and Taniya," said Bastion looking at the object of his affections with love in his eyes.

"Bastion, you're mad," stated Chazz.

"All the best people are," said Hayley hugging Bastion who returned the hug with smile.

"Wasn't it scary?" asked Syrus.

"No Syrus, once I had proved myself in a few physical and mental tests and once Taniya told everyone what had happened last year I was welcomed with open arms. Spike, Tamera, Tiffany and Zelda also vouched for me. The Amazons are great once you get to know them and Hayley and Taniya's mother is very nice, she makes you feel right at home and she's also a great cook," said Bastion and Hayley giggled.

"It's true, he couldn't get enough of my mom's cooking," she said.

"It's amazing, considering her cooking is terrible," said an unwelcome voice and everyone groaned as the turned to find Larke staring at them and Jaden hanging by her side as usual.

"Only for you Larke, the rest of the time, well, she could open a five star restaurant. Your mom's cooking on the other hand. Didn't it send several of the Amazoness Queen's daughters to hospital?" asked Hayley slyly, normally Hayley was the sweetest girl in Duel Academy but when it came to Larke, well, that's when Hayley proved that despite being a runt she still all Amazon.

"Shut your mouth, Little Princess," Larke sneered angrily.

"Yeah Hayley, you started it," said Jaden, as Larke could do no wrong in his eyes.

"Princesses do not start fights but they can finish them," retorted Hayley.

"Let's throw down!" challenged Jaden.

"Let's make it a Tag Duel then, Hayley and I and against you and Larke," said Bastion, stepping in before it got out of hand.

"Sounds good to me," smiled Hayley, activating her Duel Disk and the others nodded.

B: 4000  
H: 4000  
L: 4000  
J: 4000

"I have a new deck," said Larke.

"So do we," said Bastion and Hayley together.

"My new Heroes will wipe the floor with you two," said Jaden cheerfully, "Get your game on!"

"Time for you to feel the fire of a blazing heart!" said Hayley.

"Time to burn!" said Bastion.

"I'll go first, I summon Jurrac Guaiba in attack mode and then I'll play two facedowns and end my turn," said Bastion and a dinosaur with fire appeared on the field. (JG 1700/400)

"I'll go next, I summon Blazing Heart Chimera in attack mode, she has an effect, as long as she remains face-up on the field all fire monsters gain five hundred attack and defense points," said Hayley and a small, black spotted, gold, female lion with wings and a spiked tail with fire covering all four paws and a red heart on her chest with fire surrounding it appeared on the field. (BHC 700/700 – 1200/1200) (JG 1700/400 – 2200/900)

"Thanks for the attack and defense point boost Hayley," said Bastion with a grin.

"No problem Bastion, alright, I play two cards facedown and end my turn," said Hayley.

"It's my turn losers, ok, I summon Harpy Lady in attack mode, with two face-downs," said Larke. (HL 1300/1400)

"Check out this sweet move, I summon Elemental Hero Flash in attack mode and I'll throw down a facedown," said Jaden. (EHF 1100/1600)

Xxxxx

By this time their duel had attracted a few more faces including Taniya, Ryan, Craig, Flo and James with two boys, one with spiky brown hair and brown eyes and was the same height as James, the other was taller, had messy light-brown hair and hazel eyes and both were in Slifer.

If Mai Wheeler was dead she'd be turning in her grave to see someone like Larke using the Harpies," commented Taniya, making Ryan chuckle.

Xxxxx

"Ok, then I'll summon Jurrac Velo in attack mode," said Bastion and another dinosaur appeared on the field. (JV 1700-1000 – 2200/1500)

"Now, Velo, destroy Elemental Hero Flash!" ordered Bastion and the dino charged forward and destroyed the weak hero.

B: 4000  
H: 4000  
L: 4000  
J: 2900

"I pay my facedown, Hero Signal, I can activate it only when a monster on my side of the field is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard. Then I can special summon one Level four or lower Elemental Hero monster from my hand or Deck and I choose to summon Elemental Hero Woodsmen in defense mode!" said Jaden. (EHW 1000/2000)

"Jurrac Guaiba attack Harpy Lady," said Bastion, his aim, reduce both Jaden's and Larke's life points on his turn and let Hayley destroy whatever they had when it was her turn.

B: 4000  
H: 4000  
L: 3100  
J: 2900

"I play my facedown, Hysteric Party, it's a continuous trap, by discarding one card from my hand I can special summon as many Harpie Lady" cards as possible from my Graveyard. When this card is removed from the field, I have to destroy all the monsters that were Special Summoned by this card's effect. I discarded Harpy Lady one so she'll come back as well," said Larke, looking pleased with herself. "She also has an effect, her name is treated as Harpy Lady and all wind monsters gain three hundred attack points." (HL 1300/1400 – 1600/1400) (HL1 1300/1400 – 1600/1400)

"Very well, but Jurrac Guaiba has an effect, if this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, I can Special Summon one Jurrac monster with seventeen hundred or less attack points from my Deck. It can't declare an attack this turn. I choose Jurrac Dino in attack mode. I'll end my turn with one facedown," said Bastion. (JD 1700/800 – 2200/1300)

"It's my move, I draw and I summon Blazing Heart Pegasus in attack mode," said Hayley with a smile. A beautiful white Pegasus with a mane and tail of fire and a red heart on her chest with fire surrounding it appeared on the field. (BHP 1900/1400 – 2400/1900)

"Her effect is when she's summoned to the field I can Special Summon one Blazing Heart Tuner to the field and I choose Blazing Heart Centaur in attack mode!" A palomino centaur with the same heart symbol on his chest and holding a bow and a flaming arrow appeared on the field. (BHC 1600/1600 – 2100/2100)

"He has an effect too; he can attack my opponents life points directly if there's another Blazing Heart monster on y field, go, attack Larke directly!"

"Aaahhhh!" cried Larke.

"Larke!" shouted Jaden.

B: 4000  
H: 4000  
L: 1000  
J: 2900

Now I'll have Pegasus destroy your Harpy Lady One!" said Hayley.

"I activate my last facedown, Magic Cylinder, which redirects your attack back at you!" said Larke.

B: 4000  
H: 1900  
L: 1000  
J: 2900

"Hayley, are you alright?" asked Bastion.

"I'm fine Bastion. Ok, now my Battle Phase is over, so it's now my second main phase, I tune my Pegasus with my Centaur, both are level four, so I'm going for a level eight Synchro monster, come forth, Blazing Heart Dragon!" said Hayley and a beautiful dragon appeared on the field. It was sunset pink in colour, had a golden collar with a jeweled red heart embedded in it and its wings were outlined in gold and its claws were also gold. (BHD 3000/2000 – 3500/2500)

"She's beautiful," said Bastion in awe.

"She's my best monster, her name is Flara," said Hayley proudly. "I end my turn."

"I draw and I play Pot of Greed, so now I draw two more cards, since Hysteric Part is still in play I can discard one card and bring a Harpie Lady back from my grave, I chose Harpie Lady, but she won't be around for long because I play Elegant Egotist, I can only activate this card when there's one or more face-up Harpie Lady on the field. I can Special Summon one Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady Sisters from my hand or Deck. Harpie Lady now splits into the Harpie Lady Sisters," said Larke. (1950/2100 – 2250/2100)

Xxxxx

"Great now there's four Larkes' on the field," joked Craig.

"I hope none of them plan to sing for us, one is only half decent after all," said Taniya with a smirk.

"Who are you two anyway?" asked Alexis of the two new Slifer boys.

"I'm Matt Roberts," said the taller boy.

"I'm Drake Stewart," said the smaller boy.

"Pleasure," said Syrus. Everyone then turned their attention back to the duel.

Xxxxx

"Sisters, destroy Blazing Heart Chimera!" ordered Larke.

"Not so fast Larke I activate Attack Guidance Armor! I'll equip it to my Jurrac Velo, now you have to attack him instead!" said Bastion.

"Fine, I will, but I'll play this card first, Triangle Ecstasy Spark, until the End Phase of my turn, the attack of all Harpie Lady Sisters becomes twenty seven hundred, you can't activate any traps and all traps on your side of the field are negated. I could attack Hayley now, but since you offered yourself, you have the honor of having your Velo destroyed!" said Larke. (HLS 2250/2100 – 2700/2100)

B: 3500  
H: 1900  
L: 1000  
J: 2900

"You fell right into my trap, I wanted you to attack Velo, it's all a matter of suggestion," said Bastion.

"Why did you want me to destroy your stupid Dinosaur?" asked Larke.

"His effect of course when he's in attack mode and attacks or is attacked and is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard I can Special Summon one Jurrac monster from my deck with seventeen hundred attack points or less from my deck. I choose Jurrac Iguanon in attack mode," said Bastion. (JI 1700/700 – 2200/1200)

"Fine, I'll end my turn," said Larke, put out that she'd been tricked into helping Bastion gain another monster.

"It's my move, here goes somethin'. Now that it's my standby phase due to Woodsman's effect I can add one Polymerization to my hand from my Deck or Grave. Then I'll play Graceful Charity, now I can draw three cards and discard two, oh yeah, I'm lucky. I play Polymerization to fuse my Woodsmen and another new hero, Elemental Hero Ocean to create Elemental Hero Terra Firma in attack mode!" said Jaden. (EHTF 2500/2000) "It's time to get you back for tricking Larke, Firma is going destroy Jurrac Iguanon!" said Jaden.

B: 3200  
H: 1900  
L: 1000  
J: 2900

"I end my turn," said Jaden.

"Mine begins. I'm going for a tune up! I tune Jurrac Guaiba with Jurrac Dino to Synchro Summon Jurrac Giganoto in attack mode!" said Bastion. (JG 2100/1800 – 2600/2300 – 3400/2300)

"Why did it get more attack points?" asked Larke and Jaden.

"It's his effect, all Jurrac monsters gain two hundred attack points for each Jurrac in my graveyard, I count Velo, Dino, Guaiba and Iguanon, four times two equals eight hundred," said Bastion smugly and Hayley laughed. "Giganoto, destroy Harpy Lady one and eliminate Larke from this duel!" said Bastion.

"NO!" screamed Larke as she lost her last life points.

B: 3200  
H: 1900  
L: 0  
J: 2900

"Larke, no! You'll pay for that Bastion," said Jaden.

"I'm so scared. How am I going to pay, cash or credit?" asked Bastion, causing everyone to laugh.

"This isn't over," snarled Larke and went away to watch the rest of the duel.

"It's my move, I play Fire Recovery, I discard one fire monster to my grave and then I can select one fire monster in my grave and special summon it. I choose Blazing Heart Centaur in attack mode!" (BHC 1600/1600 – 2100/2100)"He can attack your life points directly, go!" said Hayley.

"Aaahhh!" cried Jaden.

B: 3200  
H: 1900  
L: 0  
J: 800

"Next, I'll have Flara destroy your Hero, you're through, Blazing Fire Blast!" said Hayley.

"NO!" yelled Jaden as his monster was destroyed and he lost the last of his life points.

B: 3200  
H: 1900  
L: 0  
J: 0

"The feeling of my monsters Blazing hearts was too much," said Hayley.

"You've been burnt to a crisp," said Bastion.

Nice duel guys!" said Craig.

"Yeah, now that's what I call teamwork," said Taniya.

The rest of the trip was peaceful but when they were five minutes away from the Academy Hayley and Bastion's vision went out of focus for a second and then they were somewhere they didn't recognize. However there were things that they did recognize, such as themselves, Taniya, Craig, Ryan and James, their prince and princess outfits and Spike.

"Your Majesties, we've been able to hold them off until now, the Supreme King is now here with your cousin Kestrel and is giving his army power. We've lost a lot of soldiers to this unforeseen event," reported Craig or rather, Tai as they remembered was his name in this world, in the past…

"We have no choice, Takuya, rally the Duel Monsters, Takato, you get the back-up soldiers form the northern plains, Tai, come with us," said Bastion, or rather, Prince Daichi.

"Yes Prince Daichi," said the brothers. Daichi and the princesses lead the way out a side door and before they could see where it went Bastion and Hayley were back on the boat.

"Bastion, was that our past?" whispered Hayley.

"I think so, why would we see only part of it though?" he asked.

Hayley couldn't reply because the announcement came that they had arrived at Duel Academy. They left the ship with everyone else and went to the Ra dorm in silence, wondering if they should tell the others.

…

COLD: I hope that you enjoyed it, this was very hard to write.

AI: It's good though

COLD: Thank you


	3. Pushed To The End

Chapter 3: Pushed to the End

The Slifers weren't treated the best on the opening day. From the docking point, everyone had to find their own way to the dormitories. The difference was, the Obelisks and the Ras got given a map; the Slifers weren't so lucky. Despite it being his second year, Craig had found himself lost again, and with him was a person who just last year was trying to destroy him, Jaden Yuki.

"Did we go this way?" asked Jaden.

"Yes Jaden, remember? That's the same way we went when you suggested it before, and the time before that as well," replied Craig, "And we ended up at the base of the volcano. I know Slifer dormitory isn't fantastic; but it's better than a volcano."

"So which way should we go?" asked Jaden, worried and wondering if he would ever make it to the dorms in time to eat.

"Well Jaden, you're supposed to be more reliable here since this is your third year here, whereas it's only my second but since everywhere we've gone from your directions has led us to nowhere, we'll go this way," said Craig, annoyed, walking off with Jaden tagging along.

Xxxxx

"Right, Freshmen and Lower Freshmen. Welcome to Slifer dormitory. I'm your Headmistress, Taniya and this is Ryan, my new assistant. This is Bass, he's the dorm's protector and one of our mascots, the cat is Pharaoh, he's the other mascot and both of them are to be respected. Whilst I understand these dormitories aren't the best standard, and I'm sure you can't wait for the exam so you take a shot at being promoted, but we make the best of what we have here and normally, the looks of this place aren't actually what it shows," introduced Taniya, "Now, your first classes aren't until tomorrow, and on the wall over there you should find your names and your dormitory rooms, make yourself comfortable, get to know each other and we'll see you downstairs later for the welcome dinner."

James, and his two friends that he'd met on the boat, Matt and Drake, picked up their luggage and moved it towards the wall with the sheet on.

"Right… Matt…" said Matt, rolling his finger down the sheet looking for his name, "Ah, 201, along with you two. Result!"

James was happy, he had a good dorm room set for him and a good set of friends, to be honest with himself, he was fearful he would be following his older brothers around the whole time like a pet, so he was exceptionally pleased.

Xxxxx

"So, tell me Craig, how're you and Flo going along?" questioned Jaden.

"Rather awkward question, but fine, why'd you ask?"

"Well, y'know, gotta be rather difficult, with her in Obelisk and you down in Slifer. People are going to, I don't know, talk about her badly I guess," replied Jaden.

"Jaden, one day, you'll find yourself in a relationship, and you'll realize, ah, rank isn't everything. I can only feel for your opposite half when you do," joked Craig, although he was distracted by an oncoming sight, "You see? The Slifer dormitory!"

After a lot of hard work, he and Jaden had finally made it to the Slifer dormitory and Taniya was standing waiting for them.

She glared at Jaden before speaking to them, although it seemed like she was speaking to Craig only, "You took your time, you didn't miss much though. Right, Jaden you're in 207, Craig, same as last year, see you down at dinner," said Taniya quickly, before walking off to check how everyone was.

The two walked out the stairs on the Slifer dorm, to the second floor, where Jaden slowly went into his room cautiously, checking if anyone was inside, "I'm in here, see you around."

"Will do," replied Craig. He had to admit, despite Hayley and Bastion's hatred for him, which he understood; Jaden had kept him company enough to keep him entertained. 'Who knows,' he thought, maybe he was changing from his ways last year. Then again, his past self and his past actions weren't excusable. Craig would keep an eye on Jaden for a long time.

Craig got to his room last year, and he looked up at the room number sign on the door before he entered, 201, his great room last year, and he presumed by how he was in the same room meant he would be alone again, like last year as well. He entered his room and placed his luggage in the corner of the room, before turning around to see three, silent, younger teenagers staring at him.

Xxxxx

Hayley and Bastion however, were having a bit more of a difficult time than others that's to a certain Amazon. Not many others knew about Etain, and her nice treatment of the younger students set her up for a good look amongst them, despite Hayley and Bastion's knowledge of her and they seemed to be the only ones in the dormitory who did know of her true nature.

The Ra's also had a lot more privileges than the Slifers, they always got a room alone unless they requested to move in with someone else, something Bastion and Hayley had tried to do but weren't allowed as they were opposite genders. Personally, neither of them saw any harm in moving in together, after the summer, Bastion and Hayley were officially affianced by Amazon law and they'd roomed together in the village once Bastion had passed the tests set out for him by Taniya and Hayley's mother. Despite that, they still spent most of their day with each other anyway, and had rooms opposite each other. Hayley had missed seeing Bastion's room, which was covered in different formulas and algorithms, something most people would find awkward but Hayley appreciated.

"Haven't seen half of these in a while, bet even you can't remember them," joked Hayley.

"Don't count on it," responded Bastion, "So, what do you want to do?"

"Well, I got a message from Taniya about 5 minutes ago. Apparently, that new teacher Professor Viper has an important announcement to make tomorrow in class. Should be… intriguing," said Hayley

"Anything with these new teachers should be intriguing, it's just a shame some of us don't take matters so seriously," responded Bastion. At Bastion's pessimistic response, Hayley walked over to him and put her arms around his neck in an embrace.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but we all make a great team," replied Hayley.

"I know, but I mean, Taniya's got a lot more duties than fighting evil, Flo, without sounding harsh, is hardly the greatest of fighters, the only time I've seen James duel as himself was at his examination, and he didn't look so confident then, Ryan last year was trying to eliminate us all, and Craig, well, he's a bit carefree, despite how good he is. Plus, we don't even know what we're fighting this year," said Bastion in concern.

"You're over-reacting," comforted Hayley, "Yes, everyone has weaknesses, but think, we've both got our weaknesses as well, you still tend to think with logic when you should go with you gut and I'm afraid of my true power because someone could get hurt because of it but we cover up for them by making a great team. Taniya's a fantastic fighter and she'll put this fighting evil thing first always, Craig never gives in if he starts something, Ryan and James together will work out well and Flo's a better fighter than people take her for and with her brother gone there's some motivation for her. There's no need to worry, we've got this sorted," she soothed.

"If you say so," responded Bastion, smiling at the confidence his beautiful fiancé had given him. He still needed to get her a ring and make their status known in Duel Academy. They decided to go for a walk and passed Etain on the way out of the dorm. She smirked at them and growled out,

"Watch your step this year, Little Princess, Lover Boy," and then walked away.

Bastion started after her but Hayley held him back, "Don't, you'll get into trouble and we don't want or need that," she hissed, ever since Taniya's Duel with Etain, Bastion had been a bit more, well, hot-headed especially if he felt if she was in danger or being threatened.

"Fine then but we're keeping an eye on her and I won't hesitate to use my powers on her should she hurt you in any way," said Bastion, clasping her delicate hand in his slightly calloused one.

"Agreed, now, let's go and find my sister, I want to tell her about that vision we had," said Hayley and Bastion nodded.

"We should tell her and all the other Colour Key Keepers as well, they too, may be experiencing the same thing," said Bastion as they walked to the Slifer dorm and Hayley nodded.

Xxxxx

Craig ran down the stairs swiftly, running past Taniya, who was checking dormitories, before coming to a halt and slowly coming back towards her.

"Ah, Craig, yes, enjoying everything?" asked Taniya, spotting her favourite, rule-breaking student but also completely reliable protector of her sister.

"Well, I was just asking about a change, you see, there's been a mix-up, I have three of the really new kids in my room," replied Craig, "My brother, Matt and Drake?"

"Yes well, I thought this year I'd give you a bit of a project. A bit more responsibility, I can't be looking after all the kids extremely closely, so I thought I'd ask you to look after those kids closely, it's helped by how your brother's one of them I thought," grinned Taniya.

"Responsibility?!" questioned Craig, "What do I need responsibility for?!"

"Craig, last year you bent every single one of my rules to a level where you pretty much made them redundant. That's not happening this year, so get used to it," she said sternly and Bass the tiger, who was with her, growled in agreement.

Disappointed, Craig stumbled back up to his dormitory, slightly agitated. Opening his door again, Craig saw his brother, Matt and Drake talking normally again, without the look of fear in their eyes that Craig got when he first entered.

"You staying with us then?" asked James.

"Yep," replied Craig, clambering his way up the stairs of the Slifer bunk beds to get to the top bed. The room was adjusted to fit four people, as not many rooms had four and wasn't made to hold four, the room they were in had the original three-layer bed and a mattress on the floor added.

"What're you doing?" asked James.

"Taking a bed, no issue, is it?" replied Craig.

"Well, all three of us also want the top bed, everyone always does, sort of natural response, so we were just thinking of the best way to decide it," explained Drake.

"Rock, paper, scissors is the only fair way to be honest," commented James, causing Craig to laugh hysterically.

"James, you're at a dueling school, there's only one way we decide this," responded Craig.

Xxxxx

"How're we all doing in here?" asked Ryan, entering 201. There was no-one to be seen. He knew his two brothers were in here, but where were they and Matt and Drake? Suddenly, Ryan heard a familiar voice, and he turned around, facing the make-shift Duel Field that the Slifers had, "Of course."

"Simple rules, we each have four thousand Life Points, no alliances or teaming or anything. Once you're on zero, you're out, fourth place gets the mattress, third place gets the lower layer, second gets the middle and first gets the top, no first turn attacks. Seems fair?" asked Craig.

"Sounds good," replied James.

"Awesome," added Matt.

"Alright, let's duel!" said Drake.

James: 4000  
Matt: 4000  
Craig: 4000  
Drake: 4000

"I'll go first!" said James, "And I'll Summon out Genex Ally Duradark in Attack Mode, and that's all." (GAD 1800/200)

"We'll go clockwise," added Craig, taking slight command over the match.

"I guess that's me!" said Matt, drawing his card, "For my turn, I'll play a monster face-down as well as a card."

Craig looked on with eagerness; he had only seen James' Deck, he was yet to see anything of Matt and Drake, and Matt's first turn had given him very little indication of what he was up against. However, he was happy that he had kept his hidden surprise secret until now…

"My turn then," Craig said, "And for my first turn, I'll bring out the first monster in my new Deck, X-Head Cannon, and I'll add a card face-down." (X-HC 1800/1500)

Ryan had made his way down the stairs to watch the match, smiling slightly over the fact his brother had only been in a dormitory ten minutes and was already dueling.

"Good to see the year's starting quickly," said Taniya, walking and standing next to Ryan, "But what's with that new monster of Craig's?"

"Not sure. It's nothing to do with his Magnets like last year, I can only presume he's re-invigorated his whole Deck," said Ryan, "Even I don't know about this, and I've lived with him six weeks."

"Looks like it's over to me," said Drake, "I'll play a monster in Defense Mode as well and play a face-down card."

Just as James drew his card, Craig, who was facing the dormitory, saw Jaden walk out of his dormitory and down towards the field to watch himself.

"That's a sweet room there, and by the looks of things, I've got it to myself! If only you guys asked if I wanted to throw down, this would've been a great start!" said Jaden cheerily. Craig immediately turned his gaze over to Taniya, giving her a questioning look, clearly wondering as to why he got stuck with kids whilst Jaden was allowed living space, and the only response he got was a laugh from Taniya.  
Taniya laughed, if only not to alert Jaden to her hatred of him. She didn't want that boy to corrupt anyone this year, his aura was reeking of evil, even though he seemed like he was back to normal. A leopard doesn't change its spots. That was the real reason why she put Craig in charge of the new kids, he could protect them.

"Bye guys, I'm going to find Larke," and Jaden scampered off. Taniya, Craig, Ryan and James glared at his retreating back.

"Anyway, moving along. It's my turn, and I'll sacrifice my Genex Ally Duradark to bring out… Genex Army, and when he's Summoned with the Tribute of a Genex monster, I can destroy one card on the field, and I choose Matt's face-down monster!" James said. (GA 2300/1300)

"Well, I'll activate my Trap Card then, Compulsory Evacuation Device, which allows me to return your monster back to your hand despite its effect," responded Matt, as both monsters left the field for different reasons.

"I guess I can only end my turn," James commented.

"And it starts mine!" said Matt, evidently enjoying the thrill of dueling, "I Summon out Elemental Hero Sparkman in Attack Mode, and immediately he'll attack James' Life Points directly!" (EHS 1600/1400)

Just as ordered, the human-sized electrical creature jumped into the air and launched a blast of electricity towards James, hitting him directly as he was knocked to the ground from the impact.

James: 2400  
Matt: 4000  
Craig: 4000  
Drake: 4000

Matt looked pleased at how he had taken the first Life Points off and left one of the competitors, despite them being his friends, at the mercy of two other competitors.

"I end my turn," finished Matt.

Craig stared down at his hand, considering the best move possible to him, before drawing his card, "I add Y-Dragon Head to my field, and immediately, he'll fuse together with X-Head Cannon to form… XY-Dragon Cannon to the field!" he began, taking control of the field again, easily having the strongest monster, "And he'll attack… Drake's face-down monster," (Y-DH 1500/1600) (XY-DC 2200/1900)

To the surprise of the other three competitors, feeling sure he'd continue the onslaught on James, and Craig's newly formed creature destroyed Drake's Celtic Guardian. (CG 1400/1200)

Xxxxx

"Craig's protecting James…" muttered Ryan.

"Even when the duel's worth literally nothing, he's still protecting," replied Taniya.

"Issue is, it'll have to stop, otherwise James'll only become accustomed to it and when Craig's not there he'll get destroyed," said Ryan and Taniya nodded.

Xxxxx

"You could've almost finished him off," Matt said.

"So much for no alliances," added Drake.

"You two focus on your strategy, and I'll focus on mine," said Craig, "I play a face-down and end my turn."

Drake, not looking too impressed with Craig's actions, drew his card, "Well, I'll summon out Rocket Warrior in Attack Mode, and he'll attack James directly!" (RW 1500/1300)

The small warrior transformed into its rocket-like shape, before firing itself towards James, who prepared himself for the attack. However, the rocket hit something solid just before human contact and returned to its original position on Drake's field.

"Wha-?" questioned Drake, staring at the small, scarecrow-like figure that stood in his monster's path, "You had a face-down?"

"Ummm… no…" replied James, unsure of what was happening himself.

Looking around, Drake saw a card face up on Craig's field and groaned at the older brother protection occurring again.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, allows me to prevent one attack, and then it returns to its Set position, so I can use it again," explained Craig.

Drake looked agitated that the duel was literally being fixed so that certain players were at a higher risk, despite Craig's earlier rule of 'no teaming'.

"I'll end my turn there…" finished Drake.

"My turn then," said James, still making no comment on the protection he was receiving, "And now, I Summon out Genex Neutron in Attack Mode, and immediately, he'll avenge my previous loss by attacking Elemental Hero Sparkman," (GN 1800/1200)

James' new monster appeared, and immediately leapt towards Sparkman, the monster who previously attacked James, and took it down in one hit with no sign of strain.

James: 2400  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 4000  
Drake: 4000

"I'll end my turn there," said James.

Matt drew his card, staring at it and trying to draw up a strategy, "This is great," he thought, "It won't be as good as Craig's monster, but it's not that much weaker to cause a significant impact if he attacks, and even if I attacked James or Craig, Craig'll just activate his Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, and currently I have no way of getting rid of that, so I guess there's only one target for me…"

"I activate Polymerization, fusing the Burstinatrix in my hand with the Avian, also in my hand together, to bring forth… Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" said Matt, pleased at the emergence of his human-sized heroic creature, looking armed for battle, "Flame Wingman, attack Rocket Warrior!" (EHFW 2100/1300)

Flame Wingman, much like people had seen before with Jaden, jumped high into the air, before turning around and spiraling down towards Rocket Warrior, flying straight through it and obliterating it.

"Also, when Flame Wingman destroys a monster, you take damage equal to its Attack Points," said Matt, pleased with another successful attack.

James: 2400  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 4000  
Drake: 1900

Drake slowly recovered from his position on the ground that the onslaught placed him in, knowing that he was only in that position because Matt couldn't attack either of the Thresher brothers.

"I end my turn there," said Matt, pleased with his turn's impact.

Craig drew his card, and was about to begin before James interrupted, "Craig?" he asked.

"Yes?" Craig responded.

"I don't know what you're doing, whether you're just protecting me or just genuinely using this as part of your strategy, but if you are just protecting me, it's about time you stopped it. Honestly, I'll be fine by my own, duel me with everything you've got," replied James.

Xxxxx

"Brave move," said Taniya.

"Something tells me he maybe should have waited until the end of Craig's turn to say that…" replied Ryan, "He doesn't exactly know what Craig has left in his Deck …"

Xxxxx

"If you say so," said Craig, "I activate Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards. Then, I Summon out Z-Metal Tank in Attack Mode, and he'll complete my trio of monsters, combining him together with XY-Dragon Cannon to create… XYZ Dragon Cannon!" (Z-MT 1500/1300) (XYZ DC 2800/2600)

Z-Metal Tank was drawn together the larger, already-fused creature and was attached to the bottom of it, making it bigger and more powerful than it already was.

"In addition, his effect lets me discard one card to destroy one monster my opponent controls, so I'll discard V-Tiger Jet, and I'll destroy James' Genex Neutron!" Craig added as James' defense was destroyed, "I'm sorry, but you asked for me to duel you with everything. Dragon Cannon, let's roll!"

On Craig's orders, the cannons of his creature lifted up and turned towards James, firing two shots that knocked James to the ground.

James: 0  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 4000  
Drake: 1900

"Well, at least we're definitely on the bunk bed now," commented Matt, as James slowly raised himself up, looking slightly annoyed but soon turned his face into a smile.

"Thanks. I don't think I could've come anywhere else without feeling this match was unfair," replied James, walking off as his brother smiled after him, as James went off to the room to unpack.

"Three to go then," said Drake.

"I'll end my turn," replied Craig.

Drake drew his card hopefully, and smiled when he saw what he got, "About time I added to the field of Fusions, I activate my own Polymerization, also fusing two cards in my hand, namely Gaia the Dragon Knight, and Curse of Dragon, to bring out my flying beast, Gaia the Dragon Champion!" (GDC 2600/2100)

The field from anyone that saw could easily see the differences in the three's Decks. Matt had his Flame Wingman, a powerful creature yet the weakest, Craig, however, was easily in the strongest position, having his face-down Scrap-Iron Scarecrow as well as XYZ-Dragon Cannon, in addition to full Life Points, and Drake had just brought out his Dragon Champion, the second strongest monster for now, but he also had half of the other two's Life Points.

"And to add to that, I equip him with Axe of Despair, raising his Attack by 1000(2600/2100 – 3600/2100), and fly Dragon Champion, attack his XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" attacked Drake.

Again, just as Drake thought his attack had hit, Gaia the Dragon Champion hit something solid and returned, leaving Scrap-Iron Scarecrow in his path.

"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, it returns to its Set position when used, so I can use it over and over," said Craig, smiling at his card's success again.

Gaia the Dragon Champion turned and faced Drake's opposition again, just as Drake said, whilst smiling, "You can't hide behind that forever."

Craig grinned in return, "Is that a challenge?" he replied jokingly.

"No, it'll be broken down sooner or later. I end my turn," finished Drake.

"And it's back to me," Matt said, drawing his card, "Like Drake said, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow will be broken down sooner or later, and I'll break it down with Heavy Storm!"

Matt's Spell Card covered the field in a whirlwind that removed both Craig's face-down, and perhaps just as importantly, Drake's Axe of Despair, "Next, I activate the Field Spell Skyscraper!" (GTDC 3600/2100 – 2600/2100)

Matt's second Spell Card changed the scenery a lot more than his Heavy Storm did; what once was the calm make-shift Slifer Duel Field turned into a revolutionized city with skyscrapers all around, "This card comes into effect when I attack with an Elemental Hero that has less Attack Points than the card its attacking, and it gains an extra 1000 Attack Points, so go Flame Wingman, take out his XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" attacked Matt, as Flame Wingman flew down towards Craig's large machine, and ripping a hole directly in the middle of it as Craig took damage. (EHF 2100/1300 – 3100/1300) (EHFW 3100/1300 – 2100/1300)

James: 0  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 3700  
Drake: 1900

"Also, to finish off, you get dealt damage equal to your monster's Attack Points," finished Matt, as Flame Wingman landed in front of Craig, and firing another blast directly into him which knocked him down further.

James: 0  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 900  
Drake: 1900

Xxxxx

"I'm proud with my intake this year," said Taniya.

"So would I be. They just took Craig from first to last by a long shot in one turn," replied Ryan.

"Hey sis, hey Ryan," said a voice and they turned to see Hayley and Bastion walking towards them, looking serious.

'What's happened now?' thought Taniya but returned her sister's greeting, "Hey you two.

"Hey there," said Ryan.

"A duel already?" asked Bastion looking at the field.

"Yup," said Taniya.

"What's up?" asked Ryan.

"We'll tell you after this duel," said Hayley.

Xxxxx

Craig slowly stood back up again from the blast, and drew his card, "Gamma the Magnet Warrior…" he thought; "Now I only need Beta, and I could probably win this…,"

Suddenly, for Craig, everything went blurry, and he saw, from above, a scene down below with two warriors, or he believed them to be warriors, battling with swords together with many people watching. Although Craig couldn't see much, the two looked extremely alike, and before he could see any more, the vision cleared, and he was back facing Matt and Drake.

"You alright?" Matt asked.

"Never better," said Craig, "Now, for my turn, I place one monster in face-down Defense Mode, and one card face-down."

Drake drew his card, looking to try and finish Craig off in this turn, "Gaia the Dragon Champion, attack his face-down monster!"

"Activate, face-down," said Craig, "Magical Hats! This brings four hats onto my side of the field, concealing my monster underneath one of them."

Just as Craig said, the four hats appeared on the field, as Drake's attack went directly through the middle of one of them, hitting nothing.

"Hiding again?" joked Drake.

"Just biding my time…" replied Craig.

"If you say so, I end my turn," he said.

"And mine begins," said Matt, drawing his card, "I activate firstly, Monster Reborn, returning Elemental Hero Sparkman, and then, yet another Polymerization, fusing my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, with Sparkman, to create… Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman!" (EHS 1600/1400) (EHSFW 2500/2100)

Matt's two monsters combined into one, and the stronger warrior emerged, looking prepared for battle, "Also, for every Elemental Hero in my Graveyard, he gets three hundred extra Attack Points, and there's Clayman, Burstinatrix, Avian, Flare Wingman and Sparkman, so that's five! Shining Flare Wingman, attack Craig's middle hat!" said Matt, as Shining Flare Wingman flew down on the middle hat, ripping a hole in the middle of it and again, finding nothing, "You're quite a lucky person, I see. I end my turn."

"Tell me about it," said Craig, drawing his card, "I discard two cards in my hand, and sacrifice the monster under my hat, to Summon one monster, in Defense Mode, underneath a hat, and I'll add one card face-down."

Drake drew his card, looking extremely confident at his position, "Even if he did get rid of a few monsters to bring out whatever's under that hat, surely it can't be as strong as what I have planned…" he thought to himself, before speaking aloud, "First of all, I activate De-Fusion, returning my Gaia the Dragon Champion back into Gaia the Fierce Knight and Curse of Dragon, but they're not going to be on the field for long, as I sacrifice them both to Summon out… Gilford the Legend (GFK 2300/2100) (CD 2000/1500) (GL 2600/2000)

Xxxxx

There's a lot of old monsters being summoned in this duel," commented Bastion.

"Yeah, Yugi and Joey summoned those monsters back in the day," said Hayley.

"Old doesn't mean useless though," said Taniya, watching the duel.

Xxxxx

Out of Drake's side of the field disappeared the dragon-riding knight, and out came the human-sized warrior, armed with a powerful weapon and wielding it in a fearsome manner, "Plus, his effect allows him to be equipped with any Equip Spell from my Graveyard, so he'll get the boost of Axe of Despair," Drake added, as Gilford the Legend held what was once held by Gaia the Dragon Champion in his other hand, gaining its boost, "Now, Gilford the Legend, take out the left hat!" Drake added, as Gilford attacked whilst Craig smiled, "I can't have missed again?!" said Drake, seeing Craig's expression. (GL 2600/2000 – 3600/2000)

"No, you hit alright, it's what you hit that makes me happy. You see, you have half destroyed one of my strongest monsters in XYZ-Dragon Cannon, but the cards I sacrificed to play the monster under my hat were Alpha, Beta and Gamma the Magnet Warriors," explained Craig.

"Meaning…" began Drake, realizing what he'd hit.

"Meaning you've hit my Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, and his Defense is strong enough to reflect your attack directly back at you," said Craig, as Gilford's sword hit something sold and was re-directed straight back. (VMW 3500/3850)

James: 0  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 900  
Drake: 1650

"It doesn't matter; myself and Matt have been attacking you for ages, and Matt's up next and his monster's more than powerful enough to take you out," said Drake.

"Yeah, that was my bigger worry…" muttered Craig.

"My turn then," said Matt, "Shining Flare Wingman, attack… Gilford the Legend!"

Craig looked on with a shock of surprise as for the first time in a while; he wasn't involved in a battle, as Shining Flare Wingman fired up a blast powerful enough to take out Gilford the Legend.

"Also, don't forget Shining Flare Wingman's special ability, you take damage equal to the Attack Points of your destroyed monster," said Matt, as Shining Flare Wingman landed down next to the floored Drake, and fired a blast directly at him, taking him down.

James: 0  
Matt: 3800  
Craig: 900  
Drake: 0

Drake slowly rose from the ground, "Good one," he complimented, "Took me by surprise; sort of my own problem to presume we were focusing on Craig, good luck."

Drake walked away from the Duel Field and stood next to James, who had left his dormitory earlier and was now stood next to Ryan and Taniya.

"And then there were two," said Matt.

"I'm sure one of us will fall soon," responded Craig, confident despite having a large disadvantage.

"You're right, one will, I end my turn," said Matt.

Craig drew his card, "Excellent…" he thought, before speaking aloud, "For my first move, I'm splitting my Valkyrion back into Alpha, Beta and Gamma, and then, I'm activating Brave Attack, which allows me to sacrifice my other monsters, to give all of their power to one. So, Gamma and Alpha are leaving, and Beta's growing! And to finish this, I'm activating my face-down, Riryoku! This takes away half your monster's Attack Points, and gives them to mine," he explained, as his monster which once looked puny became a lot stronger. (AMW 1400/1700) (BMW 1700/1600) (GMW 1500/1800) (SFW 4000/2100 – 2000/2100) (BMW 1700/1600 – 4600/5100 – 6600/5100)

"6600?!" exclaimed Matt.

"More than enough to finish this," said Craig, "You dueled well Matt, but luck again rides on my side, Beta, finish this!"

"You got it," replied Craig's Duel Spirit, charging over to Shining Flare Wingman and taking it, and Matt down with it.

James: 0  
Matt: 0  
Craig: 900  
Drake: 0

"And that's that," said Craig happily, as all the monsters and cards on the field vanished. He walked over to Matt and helped him up, as James and Drake also approached, "Great duel, you almost had me there."

"I was so close…" replied Matt, slightly happy that he had come so close yet slightly upset as well.

"Yeah, and next time, I have no doubt it'll be even closer. Remember, I've been here a year, you three have only been here a day, come next time, you'll stand a much bigger chance," said Craig in return.

Something they only just realized now the duel was over was that most of the Slifer dormitory, whether they be old students or brand new ones, had come out to watch the duel at some point, as Taniya walked over to all four of them.

"Good match boys. Great way to start the year, really showed just the standard of students we have this year," congratulated Taniya, "Now I think it's time we all got some rest, before the Slifer dinner tonight."

Um, Taniya, can Bastion and I, well, can you gather all those involved in what happened last year as soon as possible. We need to talk to you," said Hayley. Taniya looked at her for a few seconds and then nodded her head.

"Sure thing sis. Tomorrow after classes ok, my office," she said.

"Thanks sis," and Hayley hugged her sister.

"Thanks Taniya. Oh, Ryan, you and James come as well," said Bastion.

"Gotcha Hero Boy," said Ryan with a grin and Bastion groaned and smiled; a new nickname. They then turned to go back to the Ra dorm when they both stopped in their tracks.

They were looking down on their past selves, Daichi and Wisteria; with someone they didn't recognize but he looked like a doctor.

"Well, what is it? What's wrong with my wife?" asked Daichi and the future couple leaned in, anxious to hear what was said.

"She's pregnant, about…three months," said the doctor. "Using my magic I can already tell you that it'll be a girl," he said.

"…Pregnant?" asked Daichi weakly. Wisteria couldn't be pregnant, not now, not when they were in so much danger. If this were another time, he'd be overjoyed but Daichi had the sinking feeling of dread that his child wouldn't live to take her first breath.

"Pregnant?" asked Wisteria, with tears in her eyes, how she'd longed for a child, but not now, not in this terrible time, what were they going to do?

"Pregnant!" yelled Bastion and Hayley, their faces quiet red, they had slept in the same bed in the Amazon village but they hadn't done anything of that nature at all. This was a shock. Why hadn't Spike told them?

"Yes, your majesties. I wish I was giving you the news in more joyful times but…" and then the doctor stopped speaking, the reason… the windows had just exploded and there was a stake of wood through his heart. Daichi raised himself from his wife, he'd thrown himself in front of her to protect her and was cut from the glass shards and he looked up to see Haou, Kestrel and Karādorein looking down on them with sadistic grins on their faces.

"Aww, how sweet," said Kestrel.

"Time to die Daichi, I will take the lovely queen for myself," said Karādorein.

"Your sister has fallen and so have your Generals, face it, it's over," said Haou.

"Sunny!" gasped Wisteria, a deep hole now inside her as she was finally able to feel the loss of her beloved sister. Tears ran down her cheeks and her hands went over her stomach protectively. Something the three evil Monarchs noticed right away.

"She's pregnant!" exclaimed Karādorein, anger and fury flashing across his face, having used his powers to read their minds and then he aimed a blast at Daichi, "I'll kill you for taking what I should have!" he shouted.

"DAICHI NO!" screamed Wisteria but Daichi blocked the attack, there was no time to mourn their fallen family and friends, he had to save his wife, child, kingdom, the powers or die trying.

Haou then sent a blast to Wisteria's stomach with Kestrels' help making her scream in pain. 'Little one,' she thought and she knew that when the pain stopped, he baby was dead.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Daichi, knowing what had just transpired and let loose a blast of psychic energy, knocking all of evil rulers off their feet.

Bastion and Hayley didn't see what happened next as they were back in their own time. What they didn't realize was that they both had tears streaming down their faces and Bastion's hair now had three yellow streaks in it. He'd let loose a tremendous amount of psychic energy without even knowing it and Hayley was glowing with pink energy that was going wild, colours and flowers flashing around her, she was on the ground sobbing her heart out.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" yelled Taniya for the third time. Her voice finally snapped them out of it and their energies died down but Bastion's new yellow streaks stayed and mark appeared on his left cheek, a blue-white eight sided star made of crystal.

"I'll kill them, Jaden, Larke and Karādorein, I'll kill them," said Bastion in a quiet, deadly tone and Hayley, still sobbing, got up and ran back to the Ra Dorm, Bastion went after her.

I think we'll put this in the, scary weird category of things we need to talk about tomorrow," said Craig, he was staring at the damage the reincarnated prince and princess had created. Trees were uprooted and the earth was cracked and raised in places, there was also a huge crater where they'd stood.

"Well shit," said Taniya with wide eyes.

Xxxxx

"Good evening, students. Welcome to Slifer dormitory, whether you be returning or just joining. As you've probably realized, this dormitory hardly has the living standards in comparison to the other dormitories, but I ask you to do your best to make it your home nonetheless. If you look around, you'll see people who are in the same position as yourself, again, whether you be returning or joining. Rules are the same as they were last year, no students from other dormitories living in your room, they may visit, but no living, also there is a 10 o'clock curfew, by which time you should also be in your dormitory. For those returning, these rules will be enforced more than they were last year, so hopefully this year we don't get any late night Turbo Duels that head towards the city," said Taniya, taking a slight look towards Craig upon the last sentence. Craig, in response, looked around jokingly, as if looking for a suspect, "And one last thing, for the new students, myself and Ryan are here to assist you in any way that we can, and if we're not around, students in the years above should be more than happy to help you out. Now, let's eat," she said. Despite her calm outwards appearance inside she was in turmoil, she hoped for tomorrow to come soon, she need to find out what had caused her sister and future brother-in-law to act like that.

Upon the order, the Slifer students immediately began eating the food they had gotten. Considering there were only two people cooking it, Taniya and Ryan, although they were both good cooks there wasn't enough. Taniya would be having words with Crowler about this; she knew he was behind the food shortage in Slifer. Craig looked around the cafeteria, trying to spot the new faces. His eyes saw Jaden, with a new friend, he presumed, the two talking quickly to each other, clearly enjoying each other's presence. Craig had finished his food by this time, he was curious and so went and placed his plate by the wash-up area, and sat down on the table opposite Jaden and his new friend. Bastion wanted to kill Jaden for some reason, he was really going to keep an eye on him.

"What's the deal Jaden, are you with Larke or not?" Craig said, before turning to Jaden's new friend.

"What, of course I am, who else would I be with? I love her, but I gotta new Slifer pal, she's pretty swell! Her name's Hope, Hope Suzuki," said Jaden cheerfully in response, as Hope picked up her plate to put it to the same place Craig just had, "She's a bit shy at first, but she's awesome!" he said quietly to Craig when Hope was out of hearing.

"She?" Craig thought, embarrassed he had mistaken someone's gender, staring towards brown-haired, short person who he had previously mistaken.

Hope returned and sat down, "Hey, I'm Hope."

"I've heard, nice to meet you Hope, I'm sure we'll talk more at another time. Jaden, if you do anything to hurt Hayley and Bastion… you'll regret it," Craig said, before getting up and walking back to his own table. As he sat down, he saw the familiar face of Larke in the Slifer cafeteria doorway, looking drenched with water due to the heavy rain outside. Craig saw the extremely wet Larke and laughed quietly to himself, Ryan slightly chuckling as well; even Taniya had a slight grin on her face.

"Ryan told me why you're here. Dishes are there, get scrubbing," said Taniya, as Larke obeyed, looking agitated over her punishment. Taniya didn't care, Bastion had mentioned killing Larke. Whatever Larke had done to have him say that, well, she'd do whatever she could to make Larke's life as unpleasant as possible.

Larke turned to Ryan and said to him, "You'll pay for this… I saw how much of a coward you were last year. You won't get away with this,"

"Firstly, that's an extra two days detention for threatening me. Secondly, I'm really not scared of a student who quite simply, if we're going by ranking, should probably be here in this dorm. You don't win often," Ryan replied, before walking on, as Larke scowled at him.

"She doesn't win at all," muttered Taniya and Larke glared at her in fury before storming off to do the dishes.

When everyone else had finished eating, Taniya stood back up again to talk once more, "Now that we're all done, tomorrow a new teacher, Professor Viper, wishes for you all to be present in the Tower at 10 o'clock to make an announcement to you all, so don't stay up late tonight, and I'll see you all tomorrow," she said, before walking out of the cafeteria and returning to her own dormitory.

"She looked worried," said James.

"Can't imagine why," responded a sarcastic voice from the table behind, with two people on it.

Craig turned his head to face them, "What do you mean?"

"Zack here overheard Viper talking to Crowler on the boat, Viper was saying this announcement is supposed to be something that pushes the students to their absolute limits," replied the student, "It'll make her job a lot harder if we're pushed, and there's a possibility of us getting hurt technically if we're pushed."

"Interesting. Craig Thresher, by the way," Craig responded, "And this is my younger brother James, Matt Roberts and Drake Stewart."

"Nice, I'm Vance Kiyaru and as I said, this is Zack, Zack Ryder," Vance responded.

"Hey," said Zack shyly, not adding much.

"Good to meet you both, we'll see what turns out tomorrow," said Craig, before standing up and returning to his dormitory.

Xxxxx

Craig clambered up into his bed, on the top layer of the 3-layer bed. Before he went to sleep, he remembered his first day and what he'd seen so far, he was impressed, he'd already been pushed to his limits and he knew, whatever Viper's announcement was, everyone would be more than ready for it, especially him, and he knew he would be supported by others, and from what he'd seen today, that support would be strong…

Xxxxx

AI: Hey, that's all done at last! Again, I apologize for the delay; hopefully I won't take that long in the future, but saying that I probably will. That chapter also saw the introduction of the remaining three OC's, I know it was a minor introduction, but chances are your character will get to duel sometime in the next few chapters, it's undecided yet.

COLD: No worries, it's done and it's my chapter next. Hope you enjoy! Hope you took my advice and got those tissues while you were reading.

AI: I did. I can't believe you put that in there.

COLD: I had to; more will be explained in my chapter. We're not pulling any punches with this fic and our characters and storylines development.

AI: Fine. See you next time!

Both: Don't forget, Review!

We need 2 more OCs!

Name:

Different dimension name: Must begin with the same letter as your earth name or have similar sounding name or have the same meaning as your modern day name. Example Elanor means light, so that's your modern name, Hikari means light, so that's your Different Dimension/past name, or your name is Toby but your past name is Koby or Jackie is your name and Jason is your past name.

Surname:

Age(14-17):

Looks: (Hair, eyes, skin and height only)

Dorm(No first years, unless they are girls will be allowed in Obelisk.)

Deck: No OC decks or cards. Just give us an Archetype and we'll work with it.

Role:

Lady in waiting for Alexis  
Lady in waiting for Flo

All OCs will have doubles in the modern earth with the same looks and personality but different names

Short personality, 3 short sentences please, these are minor characters and we will not need too much, focus more on making their personalities very similar to their past personalities:


	4. All Types Of Information

COLD: Hello everyone, ready for another chapter?

AI: I am. This is your chapter and that means Bastion and Hayley love.

COLD: Yes it does, along with a lot of information to set this fic on the tracks it needs to go.

AI: I can't wait.

Chapter 4: All Types of Information

It was the next day and Bastion woke up with the mother of all headaches and he let out a soft groan, 'What happened?' he wondered, not remembering what had happened at first. He then felt something move next to him and looked sideways to see Hayley curled up to him, with tear streaks on her face. His face turned red and Bastion almost lost his composure then and there. What was she doing in his bed…? Wait a minute… this wasn't his room, he certainly didn't have a poster of a winged unicorn staring at him from the opposite wall, and his walls had his formula's on them and them weren't pink either. Oh bloody…Bastion's face turned seven shades of red when he realized that he was in Hayley's room, in her bed… **, no one had better find out about this. They'd get into serious trouble. Why was he here anyway?

Bastion then let out a gasp as he finally remembered what had happened and what he'd seen yesterday. The vision, the news about the baby, the death of the baby, Jaden, Larke and Karādorein… 'I'll kill them! I'll avenge my past, unborn child. I won't kill them yet though. I'll wait, but no one said I had to wait to make them suffer with pranks and such,' thought Bastion, his face grim and beside him Hayley moaned, not liking what she was feeling from him. He immediately stopped thinking that way and caressed her face, making her slowly open her eyes.

"Bastion…" she whispered.

"Morning Sweetheart," he said softly.

"What, what happened?" she asked and Bastion swallowed, how could he tell her?

"Darling, what do you remember from yesterday," he asked quietly.

Hayley thought for a moment and then gasped, tears starting to make their way down her cheeks once more, "My baby! He killed her, Jaden killed her," she sobbed. Bastion held her close whispering nonsense in an effort to calm her down.

"Come now Starsong, I know what I'm going to say may sound harsh but we need to put this behind us for now and focus on the future. Karādorein is still out there, Etain is here, we have school to worry about and there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to have another adventure this year, most likely concerning our pasts this time. We need to be strong. We will avenge her death, I promise. Dry your tears darling and then met me at breakfast," said Bastion and kissed her forehead before sliding out of her bed and leaving. His heart aching as he did so, wanting nothing more than to go back, take her in his arms and cry with her and deal with what they saw yesterday. They couldn't though, not with Etain around, she was waiting for a chance to get them and everyone who really knew her knew that. He needed to be strong for Hayley and he would be.

Fifteen minutes later they met up at the breakfast table. There was no trace of tears in Hayley's eyes but Bastion saw a sadness and deep sense of loss in her beautiful blue eyes that there hadn't been there before and he knew that he was sporting the same look in his own eyes, he'd seen it in the mirror. Neither of them would ever be the same again.

They ate breakfast in silence, responding to no one, even those who pointed out Bastion's new three yellow streaks in his hair and the blue-white eight sided crystal star on his cheek.

"We've got no time now, so we'll see Spike and Taniya after school," Bastion said as they got up from the table and Hayley nodded. Neither of them saw Etain come in and stop and stare at Bastion in shock.

"**, this isn't good," she said under her breath. She needed to tell Viper and Jacob and get her annoying cousin and that dorky friend of hers, Jaden in with their group as soon as possible or the RR's, Reincarnated Royals would become too strong for them and then they wouldn't be able to do anything. Every memory they gained back and every emotional upheaval only served to make them stronger. With the two most powerful RR's recalling their past already things were not looking good for the bad side.

It was assembly first thing that morning and Sheppard stood, waiting to talk to the students, "Good morning everyone. It's good to see you all again. I hope that you all had a wonderful vacation and that you're ready for another year of learning and dueling. This year is going to be a bit different; each Head of Dorm has an assistant we've started a new program, letting those who are fourteen come in a year earlier and our new Professor, Professor Viper has an announcement for you all. Viper, if you will," said Sheppard, stepping back.

Viper walked up to the mic, "Thank you. Alright, it seems clear to me that you students are not being challenged enough; you're not reaching your full potential as duelists. So, from today onwards you're going to be wearing one of these. It's called a Bio Band. It's a device to monitor your progress while dueling. It collects Duel data, fighting spirit, concentration and the decisions of a player. It sends this data to me. If the result shows that the student doesn't sustain sufficient fighting spirit, he or she will be degraded and finally kicked out of the school. It's compulsory to wear them, so as soon as you get them, put them on. Duels with the Bio Bands are called Survival Duels. They are mandatory Duels that must be fought each day, no exceptions, understand? To test that they work, we'll be having a duel will some of the best duelists today at noon in the stadium. The duelists have already been chosen, they are Hayley Dupree and Jacob Smith. A second year student against a third year student. That's all, see you at noon," and Viper turned and left. They were then dismissed by Sheppard and everyone went to their dorms to receive the Bio Bands.

Hayley was in deep thought about what was going on.

Bastion looked at his Bio Band suspiciously, he didn't want to put it on but Etain was watching him. He and Hayley looked at each other and then reluctantly put the bands on.

"I don't like this," muttered Bastion to Hayley as they walked away, looking at their BB's.

"Me neither and why am I dueling against Jacob?" asked Hayley.

"Most likely to test you, he's with Etain and Viper after all," said Taniya, appearing out of nowhere, also wearing a BB and she didn't look happy. "Mind telling me what the heck was going on yesterday?" She asked.

"Let's go the coliseum, it's private," said Bastion.

"I'll get the others," said Taniya.

Fifteen minutes later, Taniya, Craig, Ryan, James, Flo, Chazz, Alexis, Hasselberry, Bastion, Hayley and Spike were at Taniya's coliseum. "So, who wants to share?" asked Taniya.  
Yesterday 8:41AM

"I have a question, why is it just us? Why not my brother, Sy and Aster?" asked Alexis.

"They never held Colour Keys and this isn't their problem that's why. Aster and Atticus are brilliant duelists but they and Sy would only get in the way and what's going on now is dangerous, we don't need any distractions," said Bastion, being blunt.

"It's the first real day and already there's something threatening the world? Give me a break," said Chazz.

"Not the world, not yet, specific individuals more like it," said Taniya, "Us, those who held the Colour Keys."

"Ryan and James were on the bad side, why are they here?" asked Chazz and got a punch in the head from Craig. "OW!"

"I was being controlled, nothing I did while with Karādorein was under my own power, James was a puppet as well, as you very well know," said Ryan calmly.

"They're here because, like Craig, Ryan and James had past lives in connection with Princess Hayley and Prince Bastion, they were their royal guards and most trusted friends. I'm terribly sorry Taniya but as you have had no flashbacks and you have not obtained your hair streaks and cheek symbol I cannot call you Princess yet," said Spike.

"It's no skin off my nose Spike. Just tell us, are these flashbacks going to be dangerous?" asked Taniya.

"Only one flashback is truly dangerous, the one where you'll get your hair streaks and cheek mark, it's normally a flashback where you see something that has intense emotions and will cause you to unlock your powers. Bastion and Hayley's powers were fully unlocked yesterday. I will see you both in the tower for training tomorrow morning," said Spike and Bastion and Hayley nodded, not saying anything, still reflecting on what they'd seen yesterday.

"Sis, Bastion, what did you see yesterday that caused you to be so upset?" asked Taniya quietly.

"Yeah, you said you were going to kill Jaden, Larke and Karādorein. What was the reason?" asked Craig.

Bastion and Hayley looked at each other and Hayley had tears threatening to fall from her eyes again, so Bastion took a deep breath and said, "I'll show you with my powers instead of telling you," and his eyes glowed yellow and everyone saw what they'd seen.

"Well, now I understand why you want to kill them," said Craig, his face was white, as was everyone's.

"Seeing as you've already claimed their lives Bastion, I think I'll just beat them up first," said Taniya, white and angry she was ready to rip something or rather three someone's in half.

"I really don't want anything to do with this. I'm tired of trying to help save the world," said Alexis and Chazz nodded.

Bastion turned to them and glared, "You think you can just back out of this? That if you leave you'll be left alone? You're dead wrong! You'll both experience something like Hayley and I did, you'll both get flashbacks and until Karādorein, Larke and Jaden are gone for good, you'll never get any peace! They want your powers to use against us, you may not be the prime targets but you are still targets. We have to stick together, so suck it up or go and drown yourselves because right now death is your only option to get out of this if you don't want to fight. I didn't think you two were cowards, willing to leave your friends in trouble just because you're tired of being danger and saving the world. Newsflash! You didn't save the world last time or the time before that, that was Hayley, Craig and myself and as much as I hate to admit it, Jaden. So shape up or else!" Bastion snapped at them, leaving two angry friends staring at him.

Bastion held up his hand as they opened their mouths to speak. "I don't want to hear it. Come on Hayley, that match is going to start in fifteen minutes, we'd better go," he said and she nodded.

Taniya glared at Chazz and Alexis, "You two have a lot to think about," she said coldly and she left along with everyone else.

Fifteen minutes later everyone was gathered at the stadium with Bastion sitting with Taniya and Craig on either side of him and the rest sitting on Craig's other side, including Spike.

"Hello everyone and welcome to the duel that will demonstrate the Bio Bands. To my right is one of the school's top students, Hayley Dupree! To my left is an Obelisk student, Jacob Smith, let the duel begin!" said Crowler.

"Ready to lose Princess?" sneered Jacob.

"More like I'm ready to win!" she tossed back and drew her cards.

"Time to Level up!"

"Let's go Wild!"

H: 4000  
J: 4000

"As I'm the girl, I'll go first! I summon a monster in defense mode, play a facedown and end my turn," said Hayley.

"That's the best you could do? How weak. Keep this in mind; I'm going to destroy every Synchro you have. I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4 in attack mode!" said Jacob. (HBFD 1600/1000) "Attack!" ordered Jacob and the dragon attacked, flipping Hayley's monster face up to reveal a quail with a silver collar around her neck with a W on it. (WQ 800/800) She was destroyed.

"That's your big defense, how pathetic!" laughed Jacob and then his dragon burst into pixels. "What happened?" he asked in shock and then looked across to Hayley who was standing there, with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

"That was Wild Quails special effect, when she's flip summoned I can destroy the monster with the highest attack points on my opponent's field. Too bad, you won't get summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 now," she said and heard cheering from her fiancé and friends.

"I end my turn!" yelled Jacob, he was angry.

"My turn then, I summon Wild Falcon in attack mode! He has an effect, he can attack twice in one battle phase, go!" said Hayley. (WF 1000/1000) The falcon had a silver collar with W on it and soared towards Jacob with its claws aiming straight for his face twice.

H: 4000  
J: 2000

"I end my turn," said Hayley.

"You'll pay for that! I draw and I summon Masked Knight LV3 in attack mode! Next I'll use the Spell Double Summon, so I can normal summon once more this turn, I'm bringing out another Masked Knight LV3. Go and destroy that Falcon!" said Jacob. (MKLV3 1500/800)×2

H: 3500  
J: 2000

"There's more, one per turn I can inflict four hundred points of damage to your life points but Masked Knight can't attack then," smirked Jacob.  
Yesterday 8:42AM

H: 3100  
J: 2000

"Clever move, summoning two Masked Knights, one to destroy my falcon and one to inflict direct damage to me," said Hayley, taking the damage. She felt a little off but brushed it off. "Too bad that I'm smarter, I play my facedown, a spell called Tuner Summon, when a monster is destroyed on my field I can summon one Tuner from my hand or deck and I choose Wild Xenops, in attack mode. He can't be destroyed by a level four or below monster but damage calculation is applied normally." (WX 600/1000)

"Grr, I end my turn," growled Jacob.

"I start my turn then. I summon Wild Wolf in attack mode and his effect is that he can halve his attack points to attack you directly," said Hayley. (WW 1800/900) A white wolf with a silver collar with W on it appeared on the field and howled. (WW 1800/900 – 900/900) "Attack his life points directly," said Hayley calmly and he howled again before running and biting down ** Jacob's arm.

"Arg!" cried Jacob.

H: 3100  
J: 1100

"You little **!" he shouted.

Cries of anger ran through the crowd and everyone in the group was struggling to hold Bastion back from jumping from where he was sitting and killing Jacob.

"I end my turn with a face-down," said Hayley just as calmly.

"I begin mine! First I level up my Masked Knights to Masked Knights LV5 in attack mode! Attack Xenops!" said Jacob and one Masked Knight attacked Xenops but thanks to his effect he wasn't destroyed. (MK LV5 2300/1300)

H: 1400  
J: 1100

"Now for my other Knight's effect, one per turn I can inflict one thousand points of damage to you but Masked Knight can't attack this turn," explained Jacob and everyone gasped as Hayley lost more life points.

H: 400  
J: 1100

"I end my turn," said Jacob. After the major life point loss Hayley actually felt more than a little off, she felt a tad lightheaded and noticed that her BB seemed to glow when she lost her life points. She shook it off however and drew her card.

She smirked, "I play my facedown card, Ancient Rules, now I can Normal Summon a Normal Type Monster to my field that's level five and above without a sacrifice. I summon Wild Dragon!" (WD 2700/1700) A brilliant pink dragon with a silver collar with a W on it appeared on the field and roared at Jacob who gulped.

"Now I think it's time for a tune up. Wild Xenops is a level two tuner and Wild Dragon is a Level eight monster… that means the Synchro monster I'm summoning is a level ten! Wild Moonlight Dragon!" A huge dragon, the color of moonlight- silver with crescent moon symbols on his wings and head and a gold collar with a W on it appeared on the field. (WMD 3200/2800)

Xxxxx

"Incredible!" cried Hayley's friends, as they gazed in awe at the sight of the mighty dragon.

Jacob's got no chance," said Bastion with a smile.

"Yeah, he's toast!" and Craig pumped his fist in triumph.

"Go Hayley!" cheered everyone.

Xxxxx

She waved at them and then focused back on Jacob. "Pay attention Jacob, Moonlight has three effects but I can only choose one when he's Synchro Summoned. I choose the first effect; he gains one thousand attack points," said Hayley. (WMD 3200/2800 – 4200/2800)

"How dare you Synchro Summon! All Synchro's should be destroyed…" and Jacob was cut off from his hatred of Synchro's rant by Hayley.

"Shut up and lose. Moonlight, destroy his Masked Knight LV5!" declared Hayley pointing to the Masked Knight in the middle.

"NO! I can't lose to a Synchro!" shouted Jacob but he didn't have anything to save himself with and lost.

H: 400  
J: 0

"You've been torn apart by the Wilds!" said Hayley and smiled and waved at her friends and family.

"Well done Miss Dupree. Of course I expected nothing less of one of the Academy's top students and a former Colour Key Holder," said Viper coming up to her.

"Thank you sir, please excuse me sir," said Hayley and jumped off the arena and ran over to her friends, wanting to get away from Viper as quickly as possible. He gave her the creeps.

"Well done Hayley," said Craig.

"Nice work sis," said Taniya and Hayley laughed and then received a kiss from her love.

While Hayley was being congratulated Jacob was getting a tongue lashing for losing.

"You shouldn't lose, we can't afford to lose!" shouted Etain, just about ready to throttle Jacob.

"Stay calm, it was a test, there's plenty of time to defeat her and the rest of them, yes the Prince now has his colour streaks and mark but it means nothing. Jacob, get Larke and Jaden in with us as soon as possible, understand," said Viper and Jacob nodded.

Xxxxx

"Guys, when I lost a lot of life points I felt light headed and my BB was glowing. I don't think these things are user friendly," said a worried Hayley, holding out her wrist and looking at her BB in distain.

"Not good," said Bastion and Taniya scowled at the BB.

"Damn it," said Craig.

"This sucks," moaned James.

"Guys, I just thought of something. If the BB can make Hayley, a strong duelist feel light headed then just imagine what it could do to a weak duelist," said Ryan and everyone paled.

"**!" cursed everyone, realizing the danger they were already in.

They saw the effects as they broke up the talk, seeing Zack and Vincent faint after their duel and their BB's glowing brightly, the Ally of Justice Cyclone Creator on Vincent's field and the Cyber Dragon on Zack's field disappear.

"Damn!" cursed Taniya running towards her Slifers. With the help of Hasselberry she carried them to the infirmary, along the way picking up Syrus and Drake, also both passed out from their respective duels.

'This isn't good,' thought Bastion, looking around and seeing three more students already in the infirmary. Hayley looked at him and he could only sigh and put Syrus down on the closest bed.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Flo.

"Fight," it's the only thing we can do," said Craig, looking out the window and spotting Viper, Etain, Jacob, Larke and Jaden standing together and he frowned. 'What are they up to?' he wondered.

Xxxxx

COLD: Well folks it's been a long time and I'm sorry about the wait but life has to come first.

AI: Yeah, anyway, we hope that you've enjoyed the chapter and the next one is mine to write.

COLD: We just have two things to say to you all.

AI and COLD: Review and Merry Christmas!


	5. Change

AI: Hiya guys, this is well, a biggish chapter I guess you could say.

COLD: I'll say! Also, we're kinda sorry about the delay between chapters, we're both extremely busy with our real lives and as much as I'm sure we'd both love to sit and write this all day we sort of can't.

AI: I blame you.

COLD: What?

AI: Nothing. (Runs)

Chapter 5: Change

It had been two weeks since Viper's Bio Bands had been brought into the rulebook, and nothing had changed, students were still collapsing regularly in duels, and despite Taniya's and Ryan's protests, the system remained in effect.

"Sheppard, can't you see students are just being hurt by this device over and over again?" questioned Taniya at a staff meeting.

"Yes, Taniya, I am aware, however Viper re-assures me duel data has been collected and a resolution to this matter is being solved," replied Sheppard.

"It's true," began Viper, "Data shows the students are just extremely weak after the holidays, and cannot handle the physical pressure placed on them, and with the Chancellor's permission, we have granted double gym periods for the students until we see an improvement in the results,"

"And that's all that's said on the matter. Since there are no other topics to discuss, I declare this meeting closed," finished Sheppard.

At this, Taniya immediately got up and exited the room, obviously frustrated with the refusal of Sheppard to take action. Ryan also got up, but as he left the room, he turned around quickly to speak.

"In a few months time, when you've finally realized these machines aren't fit for purpose, then tell us we were right. It's obvious, but only to those who have the intention of doing right," said Ryan.

"Was this the same righteousness that led you to knock the souls out of the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor last year?" questioned Etain.

"Funny. If I hadn't done it, it would've been you doing it," said Ryan, walking out and catching up to Taniya.

Xxxxx

Since Viper's Bio Bands had been brought in there was an evident change in how students went about their day. The change was most significant at Slifer dormitory however, as Craig woke up again as the last person up in the dormitory. He got changed, and walked downstairs, into the cafeteria. Pretty much everyone from the dormitory was outside dueling, getting their Survival Duel done early in the morning. There were rumors that if a duelist's Survival Duel was not completed by 6 o'clock, they were tracked by unknown duelists on Duel Runners to be forced into a duel. Craig was the main reason for this rumor, fuelling it a lot with stories of how he took pleasure in defeating these duelists night after night, which were obviously untrue.

Craig sat down in the cafeteria, pretty much alone due to how everyone was outside. He was yet to complain about this fact, as it meant he got his choice of where to sit, and got first picks at the food. Slowly whilst he ate, people came rushing in to eat as well. Taniya walked past Craig, looking worried as she had done a lot since Viper's Bio Bands had been brought in.

"What're the casualties this morning?" asked Craig.

"Just the two today, one's off the hospital ward and the other's just resting up a bit, he ended the duel the moment he began feeling it. Unfortunately, that's the only safety precaution we've got nowadays,"

Xxxxx

On his way to class for the morning, Craig, as per usual, met Hayley and Bastion outside the Ra dorm. Bastion looked focused, more so than usual, and at the same time slightly frustrated.

"Why the long face?" asked Craig.

"These Bio Bands. I've been trying to crack them for two weeks and nothing's happened. Doesn't help that we can't get the damned things off," replied Bastion.

"We can't get them off?" questioned Craig.

"We can," answered Hayley, "We're just not allowed… Someone in the Ra dorm tried last night, Viper was at the dormitory in ten minutes and the poor kid now spends his evenings as practice for some Duel Robot."

"Sorry to state the obvious, but there's no way these bands are used for collecting data…" said Craig.

"And unfortunately there's really only one way we can find out what they're really for," said Bastion in return, "By using them."

Xxxxx

"So, just to ask," said Craig in a short-sleeved football shirt and a pair of shorts, "What is having double gym going to do for us?"

"Professor Viper says it'll stop the collapsing in the duels," replied the gym teacher, Fonda Fontaine, "Today, we've got a fitness session!" she squealed at the rest of the class groaned, "Around the island, I've laid out a course for you to run around, boys will go one way, girls will go the other, just follow the course that's nice and simple!"

Whilst Craig wasn't perhaps as intelligent as Hayley and Bastion, he was definitely just as athletic, and the two boys and Hayley both shot off ahead of everyone else and were finished ten minutes before everyone else, both getting almost the same time. Upon their return, Viper stood waiting for them and the rest of the class.

"You see girls? That's exactly why Hayley didn't collapse in her duel with Jacob. She's physically strong! This is exactly why we need these double gym sessions… Ms Fontaine had to head off, she left me to dismiss you, you're dismissed!" yelled Viper.

"Dammit," said Craig.

"That totally wasn't set-up, he knew Bastion, you and I would come first, just lucky you haven't dueled in front of Viper yet, he might see the cards and such played, but I'm not sure how much of the physical reaction he sees in the duels," replied Hayley.

"Whatever it is, we need to find out what's behind these Bio Bands, and fast," said Bastion and Craig nodded.

Xxxxx

One week later, with the gym periods supposedly having an effect on the number of students failing to complete the duel, every student in the school was called into the classroom for another Viper announcement.

"This should be interesting…" muttered Ryan, leading the Slifer students into the hall.

"You're telling me," replied Vincent, "Last time we came here, we got given these things."

"A new challenge is a new challenge…" replied Matt, trying to lighten up the situation.

"Whatever it is, it should be a complete and utter laugh! I can't wait!" said Jaden, bouncing in, Hope in tow, looking reasonably cheerful to be with Jaden. Craig watched her, wondering what had led her to Jaden, and wondering how important she'll be in the near future.

Nonetheless, the remainder of the students piled in, a very small amount of the students were actually seated, many standing due to the limited space in the classroom. Viper stepped up onto the stage, tapped the microphone to check it worked, and then began his announcement.

"It's clear to me these Survival Duels are very… boring in a way. There's no motivation to do them, we've made them mandatory which I'm sure can be no fun at all. It's about time we gave you the motivation to continue. These Bio Bands have been intact for almost a month now, and they seem to have begun to work. So it's time we made an announcement. Duel Academy will be having, amongst every single student and every single staff member, a Duel Tournament!"

Upon the mention of Duel Tournament, everyone in the hall began talking, some with excitement and some with caution.

"If you'd let me finish!" Viper yelled, silencing everyone, "This tournament, will begin as a knockout tournament. Everyone will be given one red card, and one white card. This red card will be placed inside your Duel Disk upon registration, and locked up. The white card is your wager. To duel, you must wager your white card against somebody else's. It is entirely your choice how many cards you place up and you cannot wager your red card, as it is locked away. If you win the duel, you win all the white cards placed up for taking and the loser loses. If you have no white cards, you are out of the tournament. Once you get a white card, there are six stations around the island. Place your white card in and answer a question, if it's correct, you'll receive a digit for a code which will unlock your red card. Once you have answered all six questions, and have gotten six digits, enter the code and retrieve your red card. Here's the thing however, if you get the question wrong, you lose that card and must go get another one."

Once again, talking broke out about the introduction of knowledge into the tournament, some obviously pleased with the advantage they'd gained here, some… not so pleased.

"Well, there's me out," said Craig.

"I'm not finished!" ordered Viper, "Once you have retrieved your red card by answering six questions, head to the top of the Duel Tower and enter your red card into one of the slots indicated, and your entry into the finals will be entered. The Survival Duels, as of today, are no longer mandatory, however, the first eight to place their cards into a slot will be into the finals, which will take place in our own Duel Field, so you might want to hurry up either way," Viper continued, "And one last thing, there are two tournaments. There is a Singles tournament, where you participate by yourself, and a Doubles tournament, where you participate with a partner in a tag team. Eight singles and eight partners will enter the finals. The Singles cannot duel the Doubles, and the Double tag teams collect cards as a pair, not individually. Registration for the tournament will take place in the Duel Store today, and ends at seven o'clock pm, today. There will be… a very special prize for the victors of each tournament…" Viper said, and left the stage.

Xxxxx

Most duelists rushed down to the Duel Store quickly to register, whilst some stayed behind, including the worried group of students who were still cautious…

"There's a purpose behind this," said Bastion.

"Let's leave the purpose, and focus on what we're doing for now, we haven't got much time. We need to split up," replied Hayley.

"She's right, we've got to quickly decide what we're doing and register, then let's go for the purpose. I say I go into the Singles tournament, and you two, go into the Doubles tournament, you two are the best combination that can be made here," replied Craig. The three of them stood together, waiting for the crowd at the Duel Store to die down before registering.

Ryan and James approached the three, "Right, us two are partnering together, you three decided what you're doing?" said Ryan.

"Staff can partner students?" asked Craig.

"I see no reason why not," replied Ryan.

"Good luck boys. You'll have a tough time taking on Hayley and Bastion, and… even more worryingly, Viper and Etain…" muttered Taniya, "I just saw the two registering, and Craig, I presume you're in for the Singles?"

Craig nodded, "Best of luck kiddo, I hope we meet sometime in the tournament, but don't think I'll be going easy on you," said Taniya.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," replied Craig cheerily, "Who's the big competitors in the Singles?"

"Well, I'd say me and you have got to be up there, and uh… Jacob's going in," said Taniya, "They're doing exactly what you, Hayley and Bastion have done, they're trying to win both tournaments, it's obvious. This prize has to be something, it'll have to have been chosen by Sheppard and I'm betting it's something big."

Craig suddenly felt a tap on his back, and turned around to see Flo.

"Hi," said Craig happily.

"Hiya!" responded Flo, with enthusiasm, "So, me and you, Doubles victors, right?" she said.

Realizing what the reaction would be when Craig told Flo he was going into the Singles, Ryan indicated to Hayley, Bastion, James and Taniya that it'd be best if they left, and the five went to sign up.

"Ah…" said Craig, "About that. I'm going into the Singles tournament,"

"What?!" exclaimed Flo.

"Sorry," he replied.

"No, you're not. We haven't actually seen each other properly in a month, you spend all your time with Bastion and Hayley no, and I thought now, perhaps, for once, we could actually do something, y'know, like bleeding couples are supposed to!" raged Flo.

"We don't really have a choice. Hayley and Bastion are going into the Doubles so I said I'd go into the Singles so we cover all routes," explained Craig.

"That's possibly the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard. Not every change at this school is a suspicious plot for world domination, you know. Since you obviously have no intention of spending any time with me, perhaps it's best if we just left this whole 'us' thing, or what's left of it," responded Flo, immediately turning away and walking off before Craig could respond, leaving the room pretty much immediately.

"What the fuck just happened," said Craig under his breath, trying to figure stuff out as he had no other option but to head to the Duel Store to sign up.

Xxxxx

"Hey, what happened?!" said Hayley as Craig walked straight up to the counter to be signed up.

"I don't want to talk about it," replied Craig angrily, having his red card inserted into his Duel Disk, "And how'd you know already? It's been what… fifteen minutes?"

"You're at a school, of course everyone knows already," said Hayley, "You alright with it all?"

"Maybe," said Craig, "I'll see. It's been a long time so it'll take a long time to adjust to it not being there, if it's really not there. Came out of the blue was all."

Craig walked off quickly once his registration had been completed, not acknowledging many other people, and headed back to Slifer.

Xxxxx

The Slifer dormitory lacked something in the cafeteria at dinner that night. The topics of conversation were different, the Singles planning strategies amongst themselves, the Doubles talking as a newly formed partnership of sorts.

"Where's Craig and what's up with him?" asked Taniya to his brother Ryan.

"Him and Flo. They're, err… through," replied Ryan, "Leave him to himself, give him some space."

"If you say so," responded Taniya, worried for one of her more favourite students, despite the trouble he caused.

Xxxxx

Upstairs, in dorm room 201 for Slifer, Craig was sitting on his bed, holding a picture he had once had on the window sill of him and Flo together in the summer. She was right, he thought, he had been ignoring her recently and he regretted that now. Half of Craig wanted to smash the picture to pieces, the other half wanted to run to the Obelisk dormitories and apologize for everything he'd done to her. Whilst he had been ignoring her, he, now, only just realized how much he had pushed her away recently and that was entirely his fault. Suddenly, his thoughts were disrupted by James, Drake and Matt entering the room. Drake and Matt were yet another Doubles partnership for the tournament, and instead of acknowledging any of the three, Craig fell asleep quickly, ignoring the talk of tomorrow.

Craig took the first day of the tournament out, spending the day walking around the island watching duelists duel, and fight on despite the Bio Bands still causing physical pressure. He stopped in his tracks when just ten meters away from him, was Flo herself. He stopped dead in his tracks. She was duelling, and had just finished off her opponent with Dark Magician, and he remembered the times she'd used that card before, when he'd watched and cheered her on. She looked happy and Craig left her to it.

"Craig!" yelled Bastion, catching up to Craig, "How're you doing? Hayley's just gone to get food quickly; we're just looking for opposition."

Craig didn't respond, staring at a figure in the distance. Bastion noticed this, and looked where Craig was, "Ah," he said, understanding, "Give it some time, things will work out, trust me."

"Thanks," replied Craig, turning around and walking off.

Xxxxx

However, as the evening came, Craig was heading back to his dormitory before he was called down by someone from the staircase.

"Hey Craig! I saw Flo today," said Jaden.

Craig had pretty much had enough. Jaden was the last person he wanted to talk to at this time and he'd been hiding a lot of anger, preventing himself from hurting others but Jaden, wasn't anyone to Craig.

"What? Are you trying to rub it in or something? Yes, you saw her, she god damn exists, that's probably why you saw her, you moron," replied Craig sharply.

"Hey, all I'm saying is she was at the classroom today and I spoke to her was all," replied Jaden.

"OK, you can't be serious. This is just some attempt to rub it in," said Craig in response, "You haven't changed," Craig said, turning away from Jaden and the cafeteria and heading towards the stairs.

"You're pretty damn worked up, man. Not my problem if I've spoken to your ex more in one day than you did in a month," muttered Jaden, standing where he was.

"Alright, that's it!" replied Craig, turning around facing Jaden square on, activating his Duel Disk and placing his Deck inside, "I know this is just some wild plan to knock me out of the tournament early, and I know you're in the Singles tournament. But, it won't be me that gets taken out at this stage, Jaden, I hope you're ready to 'get your game on' as you put it," said Craig, controlling his anger, knowing he would only lose control in a duel if he lost it now.

Jaden chuckled to himself, "Wow, I touched a nerve. Alright Craig, get your game on, because this time, I'm gonna win!"

Xxxxx

Craig: 4000  
Jaden: 4000

Jaden drew his five cards, and his extra card for his Draw Phase, "I'll make the first move, just to take the pressure off."

"Wow, no guessing who wins Slifer's Number One Douchebag," replied Craig.

"I don't need insults to hurt you, that's what my cards are for! I play Elemental Hero Woodsman in Defense Mode and I'll throw down a face-down," said Jaden, "You're up." (EHW 1000/2000)

Craig remained focused, not letting Jaden rile him, "For my turn," said Craig, "I'll Summon Green Gadget in Attack Mode, and when he's Summoned, I get to bring a Red Gadget to my hand. I'll also play a face-down to end my turn." (GG 1400/600)

Xxxxx

Hayley and Bastion however, unaware of the duel that was taking place were sitting in Bastion's room cuddling until they heard a rumble from the doorway and outside their window. Looking out of his window, Bastion saw Ra students heading in the direction of the Slifer dormitory. Hayley opened the door and saw Syrus running down the corridors.

"Where you going Sy?" asked Hayley.

"Can't wait, gotta run. Big duel on the first day at the Slifer dorm already!" replied Syrus, turning around, jogging on the spot and running off again.

"Well, he was helpful…" muttered Hayley.

"Hey!" yelled Bastion out of his window and one of the Ra students looked up, "Who is in this big duel?"

"Oh it is massive," said the student, "They were expecting these two to be semi-finalists at the least in the Singles tournament, and now they're fighting in the preliminaries."

"Yes, I heard that, but who?" asked Bastion.

"Jaden Yuki and Craig Thresher, I gotta run!" he responded, as he ran off quickly.

"What's the big deal over this match?" questioned Hayley, "I mean, it's only an ordinary duel, despite how well known the people are in it."

"I've looked around, the Singles semi-finalists are predicted by many to be Jaden, Taniya, Jacob and Craig by most students, one of Jaden or Craig won't even make it into the finals it seems now…" said Bastion worriedly, gearing up to go to the Slifer dormitory.

"But, he'll be fine, Jaden's not exactly a threat to Craig,"

"Yes, but it'll be interesting to see whether or not Craig's had an experience like we've had with the powers. Plus, Craig's chances of victory are slimmer than ever, if he challenged Jaden, he's made a mistake, he's in no position in terms of what's happened recently to be dueling someone as unpredictable as Jaden," explained Bastion, exiting the room and running off, "Come on!"

"Boys…" joked Hayley, running after Bastion.

Xxxxx

Jaden: 4000  
Craig: 4000

"It's my turn!" said Jaden, "I Summon Elemental Hero Heat in Attack Mode, and due to his effect, he gains two hundred Attack Points for every Hero I have on the field!" (EHH 1600/1200) (EHH 1600/1200 – 2000/1200)

Craig looked on showing no emotion, as students from different dorms where gathering around, watching students, both, who had saved the world on previous occasions, battle it out already.

"What's all the commotion…" muttered Ryan, heading out of the cafeteria, before becoming frozen at the sight he was seeing.

"And it involves Craig, what a surprise," joked Taniya, walking out to seeing the duel by sunset between the two.

"This could just be a lot bigger than it seems…" muttered Ryan.

"I know what you mean, if Craig loses, it gives Jacob even more of a shot at the Singles prize, but there's nothing we can do now…" replied Taniya.

"Excellent!" said Jaden, "The crowd's arrived to watch me take the prize, I switch Woodsman into Attack Mode, and Heat's gonna attack your Green Gadget, and Woodsman's going after your Life Points!"

Just as Jaden exclaimed, Green Gadget was set alight by the force of Heat which knocked Craig down, before Elemental Hero Woodsman knocked Craig down a lot more by attacking him head on.

Jaden: 4000  
Craig: 2400

Craig groaned on the floor at the damage he'd taken, he'd experienced Survival Duels a lot by now, but it seems as if there was a lot more physical pressure placed on this match now suddenly, as the pain of the attacks seemed to hurt, a lot more.

Hayley and Bastion arrived just in time to see Craig sprawled on the floor and slowly rising himself to the field of play and drawing his card, wasting no time in resuming with the duel.

"Time to hit back, I activate my face-down, Enemy Controller! This lets me, with the press of a few buttons, take control of your Elemental Hero Heat! Left, Right, Up, Start, Down!" Craig ordered, the buttons on the giant controller being pushed as he ordered, and Heat was slowly placed into a hypnotized stance and moved over to Craig's side of the field.

"You've got him for one turn and then he comes back to my side of the field, so I hope you can make it last," replied Jaden.

"That's assuming he's on the field, which he won't be, for I sacrifice Elemental Hero Heat to bring out… Jinzo!" Craig said, as the smaller hero was sacrificed for the human-sized android. (J 2400/1500), "Then, I equip Jinzo with 7 Completed, raising his Attack Power by seven hundred points!" (J 2400/1500 – 3100/1500)

"But that's…" began Bastion.

"Enough to take out over half of Jaden's Life Points…" finished Hayley.

"Brilliant…" said Taniya.

"Now that's my brother!" said Ryan happily.

"Jinzo! Take out his Elemental Hero Woodsman with a full-on assault!" ordered Craig. Jinzo opened his hands and began charging up a ball of dark energy before releasing it full on towards Woodsman.

"Activate face-down!" yelled Jaden, "Hero Barrier!"

Contrary to Jaden's instructions, his card was placed face-up but was destroyed the moment Jinzo's attack touched it, then moving straight on through his Woodsman and directly into Jaden, sending him flying.

Both Bastion and Hayley fell down at Jaden's move, "Is he totally retarded?" gasped Hayley.

"I think so, after all, even a basic beginner knows that Jinzo negates traps, what was he thinking?" asked Bastion, sweat dropping.

"It's Jaden Yuki, he can't think," said Hayley with a smirk and Bastion smirked as well.

Jaden: 1900  
Craig: 2400

As Jaden moaned in pain, Craig smiled for what seemed to be the first time in this match, "Jinzo's effect means Trap Cards are pretty much irrelevant in this duel whilst he's on the fields, Traps can't be used at all whilst Jinzo is in play."

Jaden rose himself, drew his card and looks disheartened at his draw, "I'll play one monster in Defense Mode to end my turn," said Jaden.

Craig laughed and drew his card, "I'm enjoying this…" he muttered, "I'll play one card face-down and Jinzo'll attack your face-down card!"

Upon command, Jinzo fired his lasers from his eyes again down towards Jaden's face-down card, which was Elemental Hero Lady Heat, which was subsequently destroyed.

"One down, not much more to go," said Craig, ending his turn with a smile.

Jaden rose up yet again from the ground, looking tired from the bombardment Jinzo was giving off, and drew his card. However, this time, a happy smile grew on his face.

Xxxxx

"I haven't seen Jaden's face look like that since… since we defeated the Shadow Riders…" said Alexis, "It looks like he's good again, in a way."

"I know what you mean…" said Syrus.  
Yeah," said Chazz.

"S'almost as if the Sarge is the good guy and the Major's the evil one… This battle is out of control!" added Hassleberry.

Xxxxx

"The tables have turned…" said Taniya, "Craig had been ahead, but there's no way his head's straight right now, and Jaden looks like he's drawn a game-changer…"

"What's going on her, Ryan?" asked James, looking up, scared.

James was right, something was different about Craig. He didn't look like the happy, always ready Craig he looked in duels. He looked a lot more intimidating, focusing on Jaden and Jaden alone, letting no distractions stop him.

"I don't know James… But I think we're going to find out," replied Ryan cautiously.

Xxxxx

"Now you're in trouble, for my turn, I first activate Skyscraper!" said Jaden, placing a card in his Field Spell slot and the grassy area around them was transformed into an industrial landscape, buildings replacing the barren area that once was there.

"Impressive," said Craig, complimenting his opponent despite his more serious attitude, "Now let's see what you really have in that Deck."

"As you wish!" replied Jaden, "I Summon Elemental Hero Captain Gold in Attack Mode!" Jaden continued as his field looked a bit more level in comparison to Craig's, despite the power difference, "And when a Hero attacks a monster with more Attack Points, he gains 1000 Attack Points for the Damage Step, drawing him level with your Jinzo! Captain Gold, attack with Golden Skydive!" (EHCG 2100/600-3100/600)

Jaden's warrior jumped up into the air, onto one of the skyscrapers, before jumping down towards Jinzo, gaining an extreme amount of momentum, tearing right through Jinzo although destroying himself in the process due to the equality in Attack Points.

"Looks like the field returns to where we started, if we don't count the buildings," said Craig.

"I guess so, I play a face-down to end my turn," replied Jaden.

Craig drew his card, not changing his facial expression much from the blank look he was showing, "I Summon out Beta the Magnet Warrior in Attack Mode! Beta, attack his Life Points directly!" (BMW 1700/1600)

Beta the Magnet Warrior was immediately Summoned to the field and connected straight away into Jaden with his hands, knocking him to the floor from the electrical jolt Beta had stored in his hands.

Jaden: 200  
Craig: 2400

"And that leaves you, on the losing side," said Craig.

Jaden rose up again from the ground, "This duel… isn't over," he said, drawing his card.

"Actually, I'd disagree, you're two hundred Life Points away from being knocked out of the tournament, and all you have is a face-down and a couple of buildings…" insulted Craig.

"Craig, if there's one thing I've learnt from duelling evil, it's that one turn, can change everything!" replied Jaden.

"Duelling evil? How ironic, this past year you've been on the side of evil…" said Craig.

Xxxxx

"Fairly ironic itself…" said Ryan.

"How so?" asked James.

"If I'd just started watching this match and you told me to root for the side of good, I'd be rooting for Jaden right now," replied Ryan.

"This duel is going to go way deeper than any normal duel, I can feel it…" said Taniya.

Xxxxx

"Bastion, are you…" began Hayley.

"Getting that feeling that everything is about to change?" completed Bastion, as Hayley nodded, "Yes. As for what though, that's what I fear…"

Xxxxx

"Take a look around Craig, the terrain is of my advantage and the entire swing of this duel is about to turn, for I activate, Miracle Fusion! This lets me fuse Heroes that are in my Graveyard, and I fuse Elemental Hero HEAT, and Elemental Hero Lady Heat together to create your destruction… I Summon Elemental Hero Nova Master!" said Jaden, as his new warrior appeared on the field, wearing his red solid armor and holding his battle weapons, just gearing up to attack, "Now it's time to get your game on Craig because I'm coming directly for your Life Points, Nova Master, attack his Beta the Magnet Warrior with Nova Blast!" ordered Jaden. (ENM 2600/2100)

"Before your attack succeeds, I'll prevent it, with Magical Hats! This places four hats on my field, concealing my Beta the Magnet Warrior underneath one of them, giving you a 25% chance of success here," responded Craig.

Despite Craig's Trap card, Nova Master continued his onslaught, and destroyed a hat, taking Beta with it, and hitting Craig.

Jaden: 200  
Craig: 1500

"That normally works…" muttered Craig.

"Looks like your luck's ran out. To end my turn I'll throw down a face-down," ended Jaden.

Xxxxx

"Jaden's got him right where he wants him," said Taniya.

"No monsters, no face-downs, only three cards in his hand, most of Craig's stronger monsters are Fusions, so it's unlikely he'll be able to bring anything strong enough out to defeat Jaden's Nova Master, and Jaden's one direct attack away from knocking Craig straight out of the tournament," replied Ryan.

Xxxxx

Craig was about to draw his card when suddenly, for him, the scenery changed. No longer was he facing off against Jaden in front of the Slifer dormitory, but instead was watching over what looked like a war room, where two people stood, a soldier in armor, and another, seemingly royal character. It didn't take Craig long to figure that the soldier in armor was his past self, Tai, and the royal character was Bastion from the past, Prince Daichi.

"You summoned me?" asked Tai.

"Ah yes, Sergeant Tai… You see, we have a major issue," replied Daichi, looking around at his best friend.

"What is it?" asked Tai.

"Your father has been killed by Haou's secret General," muttered Daichi.

Tai sank to the floor. Being second-in-command of the army besides the main general, Tai was devastated, "But… my father was the one who got me here in the first place; my father recruited me for this cause... My father is the reason we were still fighting!" Tai yelled, hitting the table in front of him in anger.

"And to make it… worse…" began Daichi.

"How could it get any worse?!" responded Tai, "We've just lost the only major commanding officer we had!"

"With you father killed, a part of Haou's Army took out an entire battalion and well… kidnapped Major Takato and Major Takuya…" Daichi told him, not daring to look Tai in the eyes.

Tai sank to the floor on his eyes, "No…"

"I'm sorry," Daichi replied. Takuya and Takato were Tai's brothers, and Craig knew in the present day, they were actually Ryan and James.

Tai lost it, he slammed his fist into the side of the wall, too angry to show the pain it caused him, "What do we do now?!"

"Well, since you're the next highest commanding army leader, I'm promoting you to General, good luck," informed Daichi.

"I'm going to win, if it's the last thing I do, I will destroy Haou just like he has attempted to destroy me, and I, will, succeed!" yelled Tai, kicking his way through the door in anger and walking out.

Xxxxx

Once more for Craig, the scenery completely changed, and he found himself standing in a hallway of sorts, with statues lining the hallway. Craig saw there was no way backwards, so walked forwards across the carpet that was there into a giant room where he saw a gigantic ice statue in front of him, which looked to be holding a dragon inside it. He walked up to the plaque that was in front of the statue and read 'Tail of Griaule, only to be broken by a general of a victorious army'. Craig knew his past self had been a general of such an army and as it seemed illogical that the statue would be for anyone else so he knew he was supposed to break it.

"Great, now how do I break a gigantic ice sculpture?" asked Craig.

Craig looked around and behind him, by his feet, was a sword, a sword he recognized well, for it was the same sword he helped defeat Karādorein with last year.

"Brilliant, that's how," he said.

He picked up the sword and swung it at the ice sculpture, making a strong indent immediately and light shone out from the indent he had left. Immediately, the ice sculpture started falling apart, eventually revealing a gigantic red dragon that had been frozen, it let out a powerful roar which Craig was slightly taken aback by.

However Craig didn't respond, for he immediately had all thoughts removed from his head, being in the presence of the dragon began to cause change and suddenly his mind was occupied with thoughts about the past, about Haou, or as he knew him Jaden, had damaged him severely in the past, and in the present, thoughts of how upset he was over the situation surrounding Flo, and his upset soon turned to anger, for he would not let the past be repeated, Haou, or Jaden, would never be allowed to return to such strength, he was going to make sure of it… He touched the dragon and immediately found himself back facing Jaden in the duel. It was as if no-one had noticed he had gone somewhere, maybe they hadn't, he was unsure, not that he cared. However, he looked down at the floor, recognizing the glow that was now coming off the top of his Duel Disk and remaining to look down, he drew his card.

Xxxxx

"Craig?" asked Ryan, edging closer to see if his brother was still functioning.

"Step back…" replied Taniya, "I've seen similar things before," she said, staring on the opposite side of the Duel Field towards Hayley and Bastion, Taniya and Bastion exchanging nods, they both knew that Craig had more than likely had a vision similar to Bastion and Hayley and something massive was about to happen.

Xxxxx

The mood about the place had changed from a competitive duel into fear amongst most of the spectators as to what was happening, Craig stood still with his hand still raised in the air from his draw, he began laughing maniacally and slowly raised his head, and there was a significant level of change about his facial structure, at the back of his hair, he had three red stripes streaking down, identical to Bastion's yellow ones, his hair, normally scruffy, now stood on edge around his head and in his right eye, there was a thick, red mark to the right of his pupil. He stood, laughing, staring at the card he had drawn, his laugh alone striking fear into most of the younger students.

Xxxxx

"OK, what the hell?" asked Ryan, trying to get the younger, less responsible students away from Craig.

"I'll get the kids into the dormitory, you go around and get everyone on the other side away, last time two students saw a vision they left a giant crater in the ground," ordered Taniya to Ryan.

"What's happening, Taniya?" asked Drake.

"Something new…" she replied.

Xxxxx

"Alright, everyone back up," said Ryan.

"Why?" asked Larke, on the scene.

"Actually, if anything, you can go closer," he responded to Larke, making her growl at him.

"Spike said that we'd all have one major emotional outburst, looks like this is Craig's, was it like this with Bastion and I?" asked Hayley, fearful for her friend.

"Yes. We're not taking any risks, if there's a giant crater in the ground like the one you and Bastion made we'd rather not be spending the remainder of the night fishing kids out of a crater just so they can go to bed," said Ryan, backing people up.

Xxxxx

By the time Craig had finished laughing, everyone had backed further away from the duel through the assistance of Taniya and Ryan, and he levelled his changed face to face Jaden directly, who looked confused.

"This duel is complete," said Craig. His voice was deeper, not massively, but enough to become noticeable.

"What've you drawn?" asked Jaden.

"A card that would cause your destruction! I Summon the Tail of Griaule!" said Craig, as he placed a blue card on his Duel Disk, and on the field came, from the ground a colossal red dragon with a long spiked tail, staring down at Jaden, letting out a ferocious roar upon the duelists around the field.

Xxxxx

"What is that?!" asked Ryan.

"I've never seen such a card…" said Bastion.

"This is weird, we went through each other's Decks yesterday and he didn't have that card in his Deck and he didn't have time to get it today I don't think, he's somehow got that card mid-duel I reckon…" replied Hayley, "But how and what is it…"

Xxxxx

"And my almighty dragon unfortunately can't attack, however it can fuse with any Trap card to create a monster that can, so I play Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, and my two cards will fuse!" Craig explained further, and the small metallic structure, in comparison to the beast before it, and began to connect into the heart of the dragon, changing its structure entirely, as the dragon began to look more snake-like in its body line, whilst maintaining it's clear view as a dragon, and it's once scaly body slowly become more metallic, the metal being mixed between colours, and various pieces rusting and out of shape with each other, "I bring forth… Scrap-Iron Dragon!" (S-ID 2600/2300)

The newer dragon that took place on Craig's field, making even the Slifer dormitory took small in comparison, let out a high pitch screech which shook the field.

"Even so, he's only got the same amount of Attack Points as my Nova Master!" reminded Jaden, which was true.

"You haven't heard his special ability yet, Scrap-Iron Dragon, on the turn it's brought out, can take the extra scrap metal off a Machine monster in my Graveyard, absorbing half its Attack Points for a turn, so he's going to take twelve hundred extra Attack Points from Jinzo!" explained Craig, as Scrap-Iron Dragon grew even stronger. (S-ID 2600/2300 – 3800/2300)

"But…" began Jaden.

"This duel… is over!" replied Craig vigorously, "Scrap-Iron Dragon, destroy his Nova Master and the remainder of his Life Points!"

As ordered, Scrap-Iron Dragon powered up a blast in its mouth, ready to onslaught Jaden and his monster, before firing the powerful blast directly at Jaden and his Nova Master, destroying them both and the ground around them.

Jaden: 0  
Craig: 1500

Everyone was shocked, not at the outcome, not at Craig's card, but the impact the card had left behind. A crater had been left in the ground from the attack, Jaden in the middle, looking seriously hurt, Taniya, despite her mistrust of Jaden, still had a duty to do and she ran down into the crater to check on his condition. Craig however, showed little concern over Jaden's condition, only walking over to retrieve the white card that had fallen out of Jaden's pocket from the onslaught just outside the hole left behind. Ryan looked at his brother in shock of the sudden change in him and his lack of care for the hurt he had caused. He walked behind him as Craig began to walk off and grabbed him back his collar and lifted him off the ground.

"Look at you! You're pathetic, you just did that and you couldn't care any less!" Ryan yelled into his face.

Craig pushed him away and lowered himself back down, "You can talk," he responded, "At least who I've damaged is still in this realm at least."

Ryan didn't look too pleased at Craig's reference to what he had done under possession by Karādorein, normally he kept his cool when it was brought up but the situation and by the state of the person who had brought it up made him angered. Craig saw this in his brother and knew he stood little chance if his brother attempted to come after him to stop him physically, so he slowly turned away and began walking away, even in his changed state of mind he knew he would not be the victor in a physical confrontation. When Ryan slowly began walking after him, Craig turned his walk into a run, running away from the Slifer dormitory into the distance, followed by Ryan running after him, attempting to revert his younger brother back to his original ways.

Craig continued running until he reached the storage area for the Duel Runners, to which Craig quickly opened the door and entered and closed again. Ryan reached the door soon afterwards, and just as he opened the door, out came a white Duel Runner, speeding away from Ryan into the distance, wearing a blue helmet and was already too far away. Ryan could easily unlock one of the basic Runners owned by the school, but by the time he got on it and moving, Craig would be invisible and Craig's Runner was faster than the unupgraded Duel Academy Runners anyway, so there was little hope of capture, so Ryan allowed him to speed off into the distance, as he slammed the door in anger and walked off.

Xxxxx

Back at the Slifer dormitory, Taniya had picked up Jaden on her back, and began walking to the Duel Tower for the hospital wing.

"This duel, is not spoken of any more, do I make myself clear?" Taniya ordered, "What happened tonight never happened, and will never happen again, OK?"

As Taniya passed Hayley, Hayley was about to open her mouth before Taniya stopped her.

"We'll discuss this tomorrow, here. For now though, I need to get Jaden to the hospital wing and we all need some rest after what we've seen tonight, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow," she said, to which Hayley nodded. Bastion was about to say something, but he thought it'd be best to leave it for now, as he and Hayley began their return to the Ra dormitory, with everyone around them discussing the duel, despite Taniya's orders.

"What were you going to say?" asked Hayley.

"I think, what happened with Craig's card, was due to the Bio Bands, or at least partially due to the Bio Bands anyway," replied Bastion.

"It's gotta be…" muttered Hayley, "But Taniya's right, we need to leave it for tonight and come back to it tomorrow. If Craig could get in that position, then there'll be a way to get him back."

"True. The only issue is; who's willing to face a card like Craig just played?" Bastion replied, "I guess we'll find out."

Xxxxx

James entered his dormitory room again, and neither him, Drake or Matt said anything to each other, no-one truly having anything to say on the duel that had happened before them. James was worried, understandably, but his room-mates were more scared if anything, what if Craig were to return to their dormitory for some reason? They couldn't beat him when he was good, and now, he had a card which left a crater outside their dormitory.

Ryan entered the dormitory, "You boys alright in here?" he asked. The three nodded, although James' nod looked a lot less sincere than the others, "Alright, well, get some rest now, if you need anything, just shout."

Ryan shut the door and paused for a moment on the landing himself. What were they to do now? Anything who would come up against Craig now faced the risk of severe hurt due to that dragon he had just played. He was worried, with Taniya gone to the hospital wing for the night, Ryan remained the line of defence for the Slifer dormitory if Craig returned, and even though he wasn't supposed to show it, which he wasn't, Ryan feared an attack from that dragon card, duels were hard enough nowadays with the Bio Bands and now, they just got worse.

Xxxxx

Jaden lay in the hospital wing, making little recovery from the onslaught of Craig's dragon. Taniya sat down next to his bed, despite what Jaden had done and how little she liked him in comparison to other students, she had a duty to help him if he needed it and now, he needed it. She put her head in her hands and thought to herself. Was Craig's change her fault? Had she perhaps been too harsh on him sometimes? Whilst they may not know the reason for the problem, she knew that she needed to help with finding the solution, for she was also Craig's head of dormitory and although Jaden needed help now, she believed Craig needed it a lot more.

Xxxxx

Flo was next to return to her dormitory, she shut her door and sunk down next to it. She knew she had caused this problem with Craig, it was her fault he was angry because she refused to believe and listen to his reasoning for not spending time with her. She was angry at herself for allowing this to happen and sat down in her room alone, dwelling on what had happened and letting her anger build up inside. Tomorrow, she insisted to herself she would begin resolving this problem, whilst she may have ended her relationship with Craig, she still cared about him and wanted to see him back to how he was. Even if it meant risking herself by challenging him…

Xxxxx

The next morning had occurred, and Taniya had given the students who were to discuss the situation with her permission to skip their classes for the day until they were finished, and whilst Bastion and Hayley may have been reluctant to do so, they decided it was for the best. Around the Slifer cafeteria stood Taniya, Ryan, Hayley, Bastion and Flo.

"Is this everyone?" asked Ryan to Taniya, who had summoned those who were there.

"I believe so," she replied.

"No James?" asked Hayley.

"He wanted to help, and Taniya was more than happy to let him, but I'd rather James not get involved, for his own safety," replied Ryan.

"This is my fault…" muttered Flo.

"How so?" questioned Taniya, not believing so.

"It's my fault he got so angry and lost control…" she said, getting upset again. Taniya walked over to her and embraced her, Flo was a fighter and was willing to help and Taniya believed she would be significant in getting Craig back.

"Maybe that's not true…" said Hayley, "Bastion and I thought of something…"

"Go on…" said Ryan.

"You all know about our flashback, heck, Bastion used his psychic powers to show you what we saw the day afterwards. Spike also said that the rest of you would be having one major emotional flashback," she began.

"I think Craig might've seen something of the same thing as us and his loss of control was probably due to that, but he couldn't output any energy due to not having any powers. At first, I was angry at Jaden and ready to destroy him, but in the end those effects passed. Maybe Craig saw something to do with Jaden's past self as well, and as Jaden was right in front of him, he was able to cause damage to Jaden immediately before those effects passed. The damage was perhaps caused by Craig's anger causing him to output more anger, which perhaps stopped his resistance to the Bio Bands, allowing them to magnify the effects of his anger into that dragon, which leaded to the damage that happened," explained Bastion.

"See? Not your fault," said Taniya to Flo cheerily.

"And the dragon card?" asked Ryan.

"I think he got that part way through the duel," said Taniya, "If he had a vision like Hayley and Bastion think; I reckon he got it in that vision, because his Duel Disk his glowing when he changed… I reckon that was the card."

"It's not just the card; it's also his past powers coming through. Granted, mine came through little by little starting after my Colour Duel and I only gained all of them once the final battle was over. Hayley's powers never came with an emotional outburst; they were just fully unlocked after the final battle like mine. Craig received all his powers in one shot instead of having them grow within him slowly. Our powers are tied to our strength of will, strength of mind and our emotions, Craig's emotions were all over the place last night, he was not balanced liked Hayley and I were," explained Bastion, who had done a lot of research with Spike on their powers, wanting to be prepared.

Flo still didn't look too pleased about the occurrence of last night, "Hey," said Hayley, "Remember just before we got on the boat, and seven of us made that pact?" she asked.

Xxxxx

There was a slight moment of silence, before Bastion interrupted, "Tell you what everyone, let's make a pact. All seven of us, myself, Hayley, Taniya, James, Craig, Flo and Ryan, we promise to each other that no matter what happens, whatever evil and darkness we have to fight, we fight it together," he proposed, placing his hand in the middle.

"Sure," added Hayley confidently, placing her hand on top of Bastion's.

"Fine. Together, nothing can stop us," said Taniya, adding her hand.

"Sign me up," said Ryan, placing his own hand in.

"I'm game," replied James, reaching up and placing his hand on top of Ryan's.

"Couldn't see it happening any other way," added Flo, placing her hand in and staring at Craig, waiting for his indication.

"You can count me in," added Craig, "We wouldn't have done it last year after all."

Xxxxx

"He promised to us that he'd fight whatever evil we come across together," Hayley reminded.

"And we will. Even if he's not himself on the outside, he's still the same old Craig on the inside," added Bastion, making Flo, as well as Taniya smile, however Ryan remained still.

"That's all well and good, our little pact, but to get Craig back we'll need to get him to change back, and if he changed to become that in a duel, I reckon the way to get him back is to duel him as well, and defeat him this time," Ryan explained, "Which means…"

"Facing that dragon…" finished Flo.

No-one replied, although it hurt, Ryan was right, the most likely way they would get Craig back is defeating him, and with a card like the Tail of Griaule, that seemed even harder.

"Well, maybe getting his dragon was down to the battle with Karādorein, after all, Griaule is a red dragon and red is the colour of Craig's Colour Key, just like my colour is pink and Bastion's is yellow. Bastion and I also did that, so maybe we're getting a dragon as well?" Hayley wondered.

"So, this isn't a leftover power thing from the final battle is it?" asked Ryan.

"Absolutely not, Spike told us later on that using our Battle Forms unlocked Hayley's and mine remaining power and did nothing for Craig, simply handing him the power he needed to help us. If Craig had obtained his power before then, then his remaining locked power would have also been unlocked. We can only access our Battle Forms in a situation like the Final Battle, it's not anything to casually use," said Bastion.

"Duelling seems to be the only way to trigger the emotional flashbacks, whether we're duelling or watching a duel and I bet it's the only way, if my hunch is right, to get a dragon card as well," said Hayley.

"You two aren't allowed to duel Craig anyway, your Duel Disks would stop, you two are in the Doubles and he's in the Singles," Taniya said.

"Um, I have one more question, why didn't Craig get a mark on his cheek?" asked Flo.

"Craig was our General, he was not royalty like Hayley and I," said Bastion.

"That means that Taniya will get a cheek mark but Ryan and James won't and will most likely get something similar to Craig," said Hayley. The five paused and stopped for a moment, before Hayley intervened, "Well, I think we've done a pretty good job here, we'll see what occurs I guess before coming up with a final idea?"

"Sounds good to me," replied Taniya, and Flo and Bastion nodded in agreement.

"We'll be heading to class then I suppose," said Bastion, as him, Flo and Hayley turned away and walked towards the Duel Tower.

Once they were out of sight, Taniya looked at the disbelieving Ryan questioningly, "You didn't seem too… believing," she questioned.

"I don't think there's much point hiding it to those three, this is going to be a lot harder than it might first seem, sure, we're all similar levels with each other in terms of our duelling skills with Craig, but Craig has that dragon card, which none of us do but Bastion and Hayley, if Hayley is right, just might get," he explained.

"You're right I guess, but we have to be optimistic," Taniya stated.

"Yes, but at the same time we sort of have to be realistic as well, can we actually stop that Tail of Griaule card?" he asked.

There was another moment of pause before Taniya replied, "I don't know."  
"So, can we actually defeat Craig, bearing in mind one attack from that card will wipe you out?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know," Taniya responded.

"So, can we actually get Craig back?" asked Ryan.

"I don't know," Taniya replied.

Xxxxx

COLD: Not bad, 5/10.

AI: That hurt…

COLD: Haha, sorry.

AI: No wor-

COLD: Not really.

AI: Huh?

COLD: Nothing! Thanks for reading and make sure to Review!

AI: OC applications are now CLOSED.

COLD: Doy, too many OC's is not a good thing.

AI: Bye!

COLD: (whacks AI with frying pan)


End file.
